CAIRO, April 8 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed four people on Wednesday, including an Al Jazeera journalist, local health authorities said and the Qatari television network reported.

The strike that killed Al Jazeera's Muhammad Washah targeted a vehicle he and one other Palestinian, who was also killed, were driving along the coastal road in Gaza City, health authorities said.

Eleven leaders of a Turkish LGBT rights group went on trial Wednesday on charges of "obscenity" and "violating the protection of the family", their lawyer told AFP.

The defendants, leaders of the Genc LGBTI+ association (Young LGBTI+ in Turkish), stand accused of breaching an article of the Turkish constitution on protecting family values, as well as publishing images on social media showing same-sex couples kissing -- deemed "obscene" by the authorities.

Turkish security forces have arrested nearly 200 people in a nationwide sweep one day after a shootout outside Israel's consulate in Istanbul, Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said Wednesday.

Gurlek posted on X that officers had arrested 198 suspects in a simultaneous operation in 34 provinces against "the terrorist organisation Daesh", another name for the Islamic State group.

A gunman was killed and two others wounded in Tuesday's shootout with police outside the consulate, with two officers lightly wounded.

Launching war on February 28, US President Donald Trump warned that Iran would learn never to challenge the US military and called on the people to rise up against their unpopular cleric-led government.

By the time the adversaries agreed Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire, the Islamic republic appears more entrenched, Tehran's military has wreaked havoc on the region, and Trump declared victory because of the tentative reopening of the vital Strait of Hormuz -- which was only closed because Iran retaliated for being attacked.

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is dispatching his Iran negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday, adding that the first round of talks would take place on Saturday.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner were also part of the team, Leavitt told reporters.

Leavitt said Vance had played a significant and key role on Iran since the beginning, and said conversations had taken place between top levels of the U.S. government and China.

By Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI, April 8 (Reuters) - Nearly six weeks of war in Iran have ended, for now, with President Donald Trump claiming victory, but the U.S.-Iran ceasefire locks in a harsh reality: an entrenched, radical government with control over the Strait of Hormuz and a powerful lever over global energy markets and Gulf rivals, analysts say.

The shockwaves have rippled outward, contributing to global economic strains and bringing conflict to Gulf neighbours whose economies depend on stability.

By Asif Shahzad, Alexander Cornwell and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD/TEL AVIV, April 8 (Reuters) - Mediation efforts to halt the war in Iran were hours from collapse when Pakistan mounted an overnight diplomatic push to secure a temporary ceasefire and bring Washington and Tehran into direct negotiations, four Pakistani sources told Reuters.

The effort nearly unravelled after an Iranian strike on a Saudi petrochemical facility triggered fury in Riyadh and threatened to derail weeks of back-channel diplomacy, the sources - with direct knowledge of the talks - said.

By Angelo Amante

ROME, April 8 (Reuters) - Italy summoned the Israeli ambassador on Wednesday to demand an explanation over shots fired at an Italian convoy in a U.N. mission in Lebanon, the foreign minister said, warning Israeli forces had "no authority to touch" Rome's troops.

The U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along a demarcation line with Israel - an area that has seen major clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will try again next week to pass a resolution to halt the Iran war and force President Donald Trump to obtain Congress' approval for any further attacks, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday, hours after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire.

"Congress must reassert its authority, especially at this dangerous moment," Schumer told a press conference at his office in New York.

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the U.N. World Food Programme warned on Wednesday that sharp increases in oil, natural gas and fertilizer prices triggered by the war in the Middle East will inevitably cause rising food prices and food insecurity.

In a joint statement issued after a meeting on the war, the leaders of the global institutions said the burden would fall most heavily on the world's most vulnerable populations, particularly in low-income, import-dependent economies.