ANKARA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will soon decide whether to join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative after having received an invitation, Turkey's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"We have received an invitation. Our President is being invited as a founding member, on behalf of Turkey (and) will likely make his decision on this matter very soon," Hakan Fidan said in a televised interview with state media.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Israeli forces have ordered dozens of Palestinian families in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes in the first forced evacuation since October's ceasefire, as residents and Hamas said on Tuesday the military was expanding the area under its control.

Residents of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, said the leaflets were dropped on Monday on families living in tent encampments in the Al-Reqeb neighbourhood.

ATHENS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Greece will cooperate with Israel on anti-drone systems and cybersecurity, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday after meeting his Israeli counterpart in Athens.

With strong economic and diplomatic ties, Greece and Israel operate an air training center on Greek territory and have held joint military drills in recent years.

(Reporting by Elefterios Papadimas; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

Syria's government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces agreed a new ceasefire on Tuesday as Washington said the SDF's purpose in fighting Islamic State group jihadists was largely over.

The announcement came after the army sent reinforcements to the Kurds' Hasakeh province stronghold in the northeast, and Kurdish forces withdrew from the Al-Hol camp which houses thousands of people with suspected IS links, including foreign women and children.

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Israel foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that Israel was invited by the United States to join the board of peace initiative.

(Reporting by Omri Taasan; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge

GENEVA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Iran in the coming days, with proponents aiming to discuss "alarming violence" used against protesters, a document showed on Tuesday.

An Iranian official said authorities have verified at least 5,000 deaths in the protests which are the biggest demonstrations since 2022, prompting U.N. rights chief Volker Turk to condemn the violence.

Israeli bulldozers began demolitions at the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in east Jerusalem on Tuesday, in what the organisation called an "unprecedented attack".

UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said in a statement to AFP that Israeli forces "stormed into" the compound shortly after 7:00 am and ejected security guards before bulldozers arrived and began demolishing buildings.

By Nandita Bose and Bo Erickson

WASHINGTON/PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200% tariffs in an apparent effort to cajole French President Emmanuel Macron into joining his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.

Trump's initiative, which would start by addressing Gaza and then expand to deal with other conflicts, raises questions about the role of the United Nations and a source close to Macron said the French president intended to decline the invitation to join.

Clashes erupted on Turkey's border with Syria Tuesday between police and protesters angered by a Syrian military offensive targeting Kurds, an AFP correspondent said.

Damascus has since announced a four-day ceasefire with Kurdish forces but protests across Turkey have continued.

The earlier violence broke out in the border town of Nusaybin, just across from the northern Syrian town of Qamishli, at a protest called by the pro-Kurdish DEM, Turkey's third-largest party.

By Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Israel demolished structures inside the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency's East Jerusalem compound on Tuesday after seizing the site last year, in an act condemned by the agency as a violation of international law.

Surrounded by Israeli forces, bulldozers razed several large buildings and other smaller structures inside the United Nations Relief and Works Agency's compound, where dozens of agency staff once worked.