May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. decision to remove Francesca ​Albanese, a U.N. expert on the ‌Palestinian territories, from a list of sanctioned individuals is temporary and does not reflect a policy change, the State Department said on Thursday.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Albanese in July 2025 over what it said were her efforts to prompt the International Criminal Court to take action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.

Israel said on Thursday it had deported all the foreign activists seized by its forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, as the first group arrived in Turkey following global outcry over their treatment in custody.

Hundreds of activists from countries around the world were placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea Monday while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

By Emma Farge

May 21 (Reuters) - The Board of Peace's lead envoy for Gaza warned the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the enclave's current division could become permanent, leaving more than 2 million people crowded into less than half its territory, unless a ceasefire takes hold.

U.S. President Donald Trump set up the Board of Peace to oversee his ambitious plan to end Israel's two-year war in Gaza and rebuild the shattered territory.

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump vowed on Thursday that the United States will eventually recover Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium despite comments from Iran that it will not hand over the material.

"We will get it. We don't need it, we don't want it. We'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going to let them have it," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Iran is believed to possess about 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which Trump says was buried by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes nearly a year ago.

LONDON, May 21 (Reuters) - A Chinese-operated container ship was among the few to cross the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, data showed on Thursday, as uncertainty grows around reopening the critical waterway with talks over a deal between the U.S. and Iran deadlocked.

Before the war on Iran began on February 28, shipping traffic through the strait averaged 125 to 140 daily passages. Due to the conflict, 20,000 seafarers remain stranded inside the Gulf on board hundreds of ships.

By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall

DUBAI, May 21 (Reuters) - Iran's leaders are splashing propaganda posters across Tehran boasting of national unity and victory over a global superpower, just months after crushing protests with mass killings and as war worsens economic pain for their people.

Alongside the images of Revolutionary Guardsmen and a blockaded Strait of Hormuz, authorities are staging military-themed mass weddings and public gun training sessions in mosques to vaunt a spirit of national resistance.

By Will Dunham

May 21 (Reuters) - If ever there were a structure built to stand the test of time, it surely would be the Great Pyramid of Giza, a transcendent monument to human imagination and ambition. Since being erected during the Old Kingdom period of ancient Egypt, it has stood impassively as time marched on and civilizations rose and fell.

The first of hundreds of Gaza flotilla activists began arriving at Istanbul airport Thursday after being arrested then deported from Israel, an AFP correspondent said.

The 422 activists, among them 85 Turkish nationals, were flown from southern Israel on three planes chartered by Ankara, Turkish foreign ministry sources said.

A first group of arrivals could be seen inside the VIP terminal at Istanbul airport on the European side of the city, as a crowd of supporters carrying Palestinian flags gathered to welcome them, the correspondent said.

ANKARA, May 21 (Reuters) - A Turkish court on Thursday annulled the 2023 congress of the main opposition Republican People's Party in which current chairman Ozgur Ozel was elected, dealing a potentially big blow to President Tayyip Erdogan's political challengers.

The Ankara court said former chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu should replace current leader Ozel.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )

PARIS, May 21 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities are currently deporting 37 French nationals who were part of the group of activists on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla to Turkey, France's Foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in a weekly news briefing, Pascal Confavreux said a senior Israeli diplomat had been summoned by the ministry earlier on Thursday to express Paris' anger in response to a video released by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in which the minister is seen taunting detained Gaza flotilla activists.