By Pesha Magid and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed Palestinian committee established to take over the civil administration of Gaza opened applications for a police force for the strip on Thursday, ahead of the inaugural meeting of President Donald Trump's Board of Peace.

Trump is expected to announce a multi-billion-dollar reconstruction plan for Gaza and detail plans for a U.N.-authorized stabilization force for the Palestinian enclave at the meeting in Washington. Establishing security in Gaza is one of many formidable hurdles.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran must make a "meaningful deal" in negotiations with Washington in the next 10 days or else "bad things happen", as he deployed warships, fighter jets and other military hardware to the region.

"It's proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen," Trump told the inaugural meeting of the "Board of Peace", his initiative to secure stability in Gaza.

DUBAI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Russia warned against an "unprecedented escalation of tension" around Iran on Thursday and urged restraint amid a U.S. military build-up in the region that a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.

U.S. threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks on Tehran's nuclear programme, have pushed up oil prices and a Russian corvette on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Israeli forces, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have both committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and carried out atrocity crimes, a U.N. report published on Thursday said.

Intensified Israeli attacks and the forcible transfer of Palestinians appeared aimed at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza "raising concerns over ethnic cleansing," the report by the U.N. human rights office said.

The head of Doctors Without Borders in the Palestinian territories told AFP the charity would continue working in Gaza for as long as possible, following an Israeli decision to end its activities there.

In early February, Israel announced it was terminating all the activities in Gaza by the medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.

MSF has slammed the move, which takes effect on March 1, as a "pretext" to obstruct aid.

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday that it was seeing an unprecedented escalation of tension around Iran as the United States moved military assets into the Middle East, and the Kremlin urged both Tehran and "other parties" to exercise prudence and restraint.

The U.S. has deployed warships near Iran, while also holding talks with Tehran on limiting its nuclear programme.

BAGHDAD, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A Turkish parliamentary commission's approval of a report setting out a roadmap for legal reforms alongside the disbandment of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group is an important step and the beginning of a fundamental change in Turkish policy, a PKK source told Reuters on Thursday.

The commission voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve the report, advancing a peace process designed to end decades of conflict.

Iran's atomic energy chief on Thursday said "no country can deprive Iran of the right" to nuclear enrichment, following fresh US warning that there were "many reasons" to strike the Islamic republic.

The two foes recently resumed indirect talks, after US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran, at first over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month then more recently over its nuclear programme.

A British couple detained in Iran since January 2025 have been sentenced to 10 years in jail for espionage, their family announced on Thursday, triggering condemnation from the UK government.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both in their 50s, were arrested while travelling through the country on an around-the-world motorcycle journey, according to relatives, and have consistently denied Tehran's spying claims.

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Yvette Cooper on Thursday condemned as "totally unjustifiable" the 10-year sentence given to a British couple in Iran for spying, saying the government would continue to press for their release.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman had been charged with espionage after Iran accused them of gathering information in several parts of the country.

"We will pursue this case relentlessly with the Iranian government until we see Craig and Lindsay Foreman safely returned to the UK and reunited with their family," Cooper said in a statement.