By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar's capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed toby all 15 members, including Israel's ally the United States.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attackon Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance U.S. and Israeli interests.

By Saeed Shah

KABUL (Reuters) -The United Nations called on Thursday for the Taliban administration in Afghanistan to lift restrictions on its local female staff coming to work, warning that aid for earthquake victims and other vulnerable Afghans is at risk.

The Taliban authorities deployed security forces at the entrances to U.N. compounds and field offices, preventing Afghan women staff from entering, the U.N. said in a statement.

Taliban's spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reuters) -Germany's government has decided to back a France-led proposal for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the plan.

Germany is planning to support a United Nations resolution on Friday adopting the declaration, led by France and Saudi Arabia, the report added.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a controversial settlement expansion plan that would cut across land that the Palestinians seek for a state.

"There will not be a Palestinian state," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Maale Adumim settlement in the West Bank where thousands of new housing units would be added.

Last month, the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received final approval.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that there would be no Palestinian state, speaking at a signing ceremony for a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank.

"We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us," Netanyahu said at the event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement just east of Jerusalem.

"We will safeguard our heritage, our land and our security... We are going to double the city's population." The event was streamed live by his office.

DUBAI (Reuters) -United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's tour of Gulf countries is aimed at coordinating positions after Tuesday's Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, his diplomatic adviser said on Thursday.

"The President's Gulf tour reflects a deep conviction in strengthening coordination and cooperation, and in reinforcing the concept of a common destiny," Anwar Gargash said in a post on X.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday said her government was not looking for a conflict with countries on which it plans to increase tariffs, including China.

"We don't want a conflict," Sheinbaum told a morning conference, adding the measures were intended to boost Mexico's economy and that her government was in talks with ambassadors from countries impacted by the proposed measures.

Hamas accused the United States on Thursday of complicity in Israel's deadly attack on its negotiators in Qatar, lambasting Israel for seeking to kill off Gaza truce talks as Doha buried the dead.

Tuesday's unprecedented Israeli strikes on a Gulf state sent shockwaves through a region long shielded from conflicts and halted already floundering Gaza talks.

"This crime was... an assassination of the entire negotiation process and a deliberate targeting of the role of our mediating brothers in Qatar and Egypt," Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said in a televised statement.

LONDON (Reuters) -Ireland will not take part in next year's Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to participate, Irish broadcaster RTE said on Thursday, arguing that doing so would be "unconscionable" because of the conflict in Gaza.

Recent editions of Eurovision have been overshadowed by opposition to Israel's participation in the contest over its continuing military assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 64,000 people, according to local health authorities.

(Reuters) -An Israeli attack that targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar this week would not change the Palestinian group's terms for ending the war in Gaza, an official said on Thursday.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha on Tuesday, in what U.S. officials described as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests.