By Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil is finalizing its submission to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

South Africa filed a case in 2023 asking the ICJ to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The case argues that in its war against Hamas militants Israel's military actions go beyond targeting Hamas alone by attacking civilians, with strikes on schools, hospitals, camps, and shelters.

(Reuters) -Ukraine brought home a new group of prisoners of war from Russia on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, saying it brought to more than 1,000 the number of returning soldiers as agreed at talks in Turkey.

Zelenskiy, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said those returning were ill or seriously wounded.

"The servicemen who are returning today defended Ukraine in different sectors of the front," Zelenskiy wrote. "A significant number spent more than three years as prisoners. All are receiving key support and medical assistance."

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Firefighters in Cyprus were battling on Wednesday to contain a huge wildfire forcing the evacuation of at least four villages on the first day of a heatwave which sent temperatures soaring.

Authorities said the fire was raging in terrain north of the southern city of Limassol, stoked by strong winds and high temperatures. A fire brigade spokesperson said there had been 'considerable damage' to homes in the region, known for its vineyards.

Sitting near a poster of Che Guevara inside his French prison cell before his release this week, pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said the "struggle" kept him going during his four decades behind bars.

A court last week ordered the 74-year-old -- who was jailed over the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats in Paris -- be released from the Lannemezan prison in southern France on Friday.

Abdallah is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France, where most convicts with life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's delegation for a third round of peace talks with Russia has arrived in Istanbul, Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne reported on Wednesday, citing the foreign ministry spokesperson.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, writing by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

(Reuters) -Israel's President Isaac Herzog visited the Gaza strip on Wednesday and told soldiers that there were "intensive negotiations" about returning the hostages in Gaza, adding that he hopes that they will soon "hear good news", a statement from the president's spokesperson reported.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield, writing by Yomna Ehab, Editing by William Maclean)

By Julien Pretot

DIEULEFIT, France (Reuters) -Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists waved flags and unfurled banners on Wednesday as the Tour de France peloton rode through Dieulefit, a southeastern French town honoured as a "Town of the Just" for sheltering Jewish people during World War Two.

A house was draped with Palestinian flags and protesters waved dozens more by the roadside. Cries of "Free Palestine" echoed through the town, as the riders cycled through. One banner read "Affamer c’est tuer", meaning "Starving is killing".

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An anti-government activist in her 70s has been placed under investigation on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, police said on Wednesday.

The suspect is accused of having expressed her intent to kill Netanyahu and sought assistance from other activists to obtain weapons and gather information about the prime minister’s security arrangements, police said.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Iran has agreed to allow a technical team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog to visit in the coming weeks to discuss "a new modality" on relations between the International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday.

"The delegation will come to Iran to discuss the modality, not to go to the (nuclear) sites," he told reporters during a visit to New York.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, Editing by Bhargav Acharya)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) -The Al-Shaer family went to bed hungry at their home in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed them in their sleep.

The family - freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband and their five children - were among more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials.

Their corpses lay in white shrouds outside their bombed home on Wednesday with their names scribbled in pen. Blood seeped through the shrouds as they lay there, staining them red.