DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) -Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is set to hold a call with the British, French and German foreign ministers on Wednesday as Tehran seeks to avert the reimposition of international sanctions over its nuclear programme.

A French diplomatic source said the call was aimed at discussing the impending reimposition of U.N. sanctions by the European powers and to reaffirm conditions they have set for Tehran to enable that decision to be delayed.

By Laila Bassam and Emilie Madi

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Zainab Mustarah once spent her days running an events planning firm in Beirut. But for the last year, she has been in and out of surgery to save the remnants of her right hand and both eyes, maimed when Israel detonated booby-trapped pagers in Lebanon.

On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers carried by members of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah exploded simultaneously, followed the next day by booby-trapped walkie-talkies.

Huge numbers of Palestinians were fleeing Gaza City by any means on Wednesday as the Israeli military pressed its ground offensive, killing dozens in strikes.

AFP images showed a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, by car and on donkey carts, with their few belongings piled high as Israel bombarded the city.

Israel had announced the day before that the US-backed campaign in the Gaza Strip's largest city had begun, pledging to destroy the militant group Hamas in the area.

Acclaimed Tel Aviv-based TV screenwriter Hagai Levi says many artists like him want to leave Israel because of the Gaza war, with a gathering cultural boycott of the country adding to their problems.

Levi, writer of a string of TV hits including "Scenes from a Marriage", "The Affair" and "In Treatment", is an outspoken critic of Israel's siege of Gaza and understands international anger over the issue.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan will not recognise a Palestinian state for the time being, and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will skip a relevant meeting during the United Nations General Assembly this month, the Asahi newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed government sources.

Japan's stance would run counter to moves to recognise a Palestinian state by France, Britain and Canada - its Group of Seven peers - as well as Australia. The stance aligns Japan with the United States, Israel's closest ally, which has rejected the idea of recognising a Palestinian state.

ADEN (Reuters) -The United Nations has relocated the place of appointment of the resident coordinator for Yemen to Aden, more than a week after at least 18 U.N. personnel were detained in the capital Sanaa.

The resident coordinator's office for Yemen said on Tuesday that the office location was changed to Aden, but that the resident coordinator would continue to fulfill his mandate across the country.

"The Resident Coordinator maintains a presence in Sanaa and he will be traveling across the country, including to Sanaa," the office said.

(Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said on Tuesday that she had a call with U.S. President Donald Trump on strengthening joint efforts to increase economic pressure on Russia through additional measures.

Von der Leyen said in an X post that the commission will propose speeding up the phase-out of Russian fossil imports.

"Russia's war economy, sustained by revenues from fossil fuels, is financing the bloodshed in Ukraine," she added.

(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Syria said on Tuesday that it was working with the United States to reach mutual "security understandings" with Israel, which has demanded the demilitarisation of the country's south.

The announcement was part of a US- and Jordan-backed roadmap for restoring stability in the south following sectarian violence that drew Israeli intervention, and a Syrian military official told AFP that heavy weapons had been withdrawn from the area.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. has issued a fresh round Iran-related sanctions targeting individuals and entities that Washington says finance Tehran's military, including some in Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday.

Those targeted have helped coordinate funds transfers, including from the sale of Iranian oil, that benefit Iran's military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC)- Quds Force and its Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL), Treasury said.

United Nations investigators on Tuesday accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza in a bid to "destroy the Palestinians", accusing Israel's prime minister and other top officials of incitement.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body, found that "genocide is occurring in Gaza", commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.

"The responsibility lies with the State of Israel."