GAZA (Reuters) - Israel's military said it had expanded operations in Gaza City on Friday and bombarded Hamas infrastructure, while displaced Palestinians traumatised by the advance said they had no means to flee.

"The situation is really bad. All night long, the tank was firing shells," said Palestinian Toufic Abu Mouawad, who left a camp for the displaced with nowhere else to go.

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India said on Friday it hoped Saudi Arabia would keep in mind mutual interests and sensitivities between the two countries, two days after Riyadh signed a mutual defence pact with New Delhi's old foe Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed the pact on Wednesday, and although few details have been made public, analysts said it could mean Riyadh will have a de facto nuclear shield under the agreement.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan does not plan to recognise a Palestinian state at U.N. meetings this month, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Friday.

But he also said that for Tokyo, which supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, it is not a matter of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, but when to recognise it.

"I'm aware voices calling for the recognition as a state are getting louder in the international community as well as in Japan," Iwaya told a press conference.

By Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 30 million euro one-time payment to the Palestinian Authority that Germany was hoping to announce next week to coincide with European allies' formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been held up by sceptical legislators, Bild newspaper reported.

British trip-hop group Massive Attack announced they are joining a new music industry initiative to block their music in Israel and have also asked for their songs to be removed from Spotify.

The Bristol natives said they had joined "No Music for Genocide", a collective of musicians modelled on the "Film Workers for Palestine" group, which has also called for a cultural boycott of Israel over the war in Gaza.

Palestinian authorities have arrested a key suspect in an antisemitic attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris which left six people dead in 1982, French prosecutors said on Friday, as France gears up to recognise a Palestinian state.

The deadliest antisemitic atrocity in France since World War II was blamed on the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal Organization which was categorised as a terror group by the US and Europe.

By Andrew Mills

DOHA (Reuters) - An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan in February were released and flying to Doha on Friday after Qatari mediation, an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Barbie and Peter Reynolds' family had been concerned for their health and their ability to survive Taliban custody.

An elderly British couple detained in Afghanistan for almost eight months arrived in Qatar after their release by Taliban authorities on Friday amid concerns for their health, an AFP journalist reported.

Taliban officials have declined to say why they arrested Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, in February as they were returning to their home.

"We've been treated very well. We're looking forward to seeing our children," said Barbie, in a red headscarf, standing next to her bearded husband, near a plane on the tarmac at Kabul airport.

The Israeli military warned on Friday it would operate with "unprecedented force" in Gaza City, telling residents to flee as it presses its ground offensive on the territory's largest urban centre.

Israel has pummelled Gaza City with air strikes and tank fire in its bid to seize it, nearly two years into the war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left Gaza City gripped by a UN-declared famine.

The assault comes ahead of a planned move by several Western governments, including Britain and France, to recognise a Palestinian state at a UN summit next week.

By Saeed Shah and Maha El Dahan

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI - With many Arab nations feeling a rising threat from Israel, the Saudi-Pakistan defense pact announced this week brings Pakistan - and its nuclear umbrella - into the region's security equation.

The "Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement" signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday effectively marries Riyadh's money with Pakistan's giant nuclear-armed military, analysts said.