By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Israel will join U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" initiative, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday during his visit to Washington where he met Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

After meeting Rubio on Wednesday, Netanyahu posted on X that he "signed Israel's accession as a member of the "Board of Peace.""

Netanyahu was in Washington to discuss Iran with Trump.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog said Thursday antisemitism in Australia is "frightening" but most people want good relations, on the final day of a visit expected to spark protests in the city of Melbourne.

Herzog's tightly policed four day visit to Australia this week was meant to offer consolation to the country's Jewish community following December's mass shooting on Bondi beach that killed 15 people.

By Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has begun paying Afghansto repatriate as it attempts to close a camp in Qatar where they have been stranded for years, the top State Department official for South and Central Asia told lawmakers on Wednesday.

More than 1,100 people have been held at the former U.S. Army base Camp As Sayliyah (CAS) since at least early last year, when Republican President Donald Trump's administration halted resettlement for Afghans who feared retribution from Taliban authorities for their links to the U.S. military.

By Pesha Magid and Rami Ayyub

JERUSALEM, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. security firm that deployed armed veterans to guard Gaza aid sites is in talks with the Trump administration’s Board of Peace about its next role in the enclave, the company said on Wednesday, after previously facing U.N. criticism over deadly scenes at its distribution points.

OSLO, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Wednesday that it had called on Iran to immediately free activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi from prison.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by mark Heinrich)

By Ahmed Hagagy

KUWAIT, Feb 11 (Reuters ) - Lebanon’s government will decide next week how to move to the second phase of a plan to extend its authority and place all arms under state control in areas north of the Litani River, its information minister said on Wednesday.

The decision will be based on a presentation by the army outlining its needs and capabilities, the minister, Paul Morcos, told reporters during a visit to Kuwait, where he was attending an Arab meeting.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas

CAIRO/GAZA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The United Nations Development Programme began clearing a huge wartime garbage dump on Wednesday that has swallowed one of Gaza City’s oldest commercial districts and is an environmental and health risk.

Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UNDP Gaza Office, said work had started to remove the solid‑waste mound that has overtaken the once busy Fras Market in the Palestinian enclave's main city.

NABLUS, West Bank, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Five months after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that its prisons were failing to provide enough food for Palestinian detainees and ordered conditions be improved, emaciated prisoners are still emerging with tales of extreme hunger and abuse.

Samer Khawaireh, 45, told Reuters that all he was given to eatin Israel's Megiddo and Nafha prisons was ten thin pieces of bread over the course of a day, with a bit of hummus and tahini. Twice a week some tuna.

PARIS, Feb 11 (Reuters) - France will increase the number of visas for Iranians seeking asylum as a result of the recent crackdown by Iranian authorities, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday.

Speaking in parliament, Barrot said Paris wanted to support the Iranian people by any means possible.

"In particular by welcoming opponents persecuted by the regime who are seeking asylum and refuge in France. We will increase our humanitarian visas for asylum purposes for these individuals whom we must protect," he said.

WARSAW, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Poland and Italy will not join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, Warsaw and Rome said on Wednesday, adding to the list of Washington's allies remaining on the sidelines.

Initially designed to cement Gaza's ceasefire, Trump sees the Board of Peace taking a wider role in resolving global conflicts which some countries fear means it could become a rival to the United Nations.

This along with the fact that Russia and Belarus were invited to join means many Western countries have taken a cautious approach.