By Steven Scheer and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) -Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza and freed all living hostages held by Hamas.

QUETTA, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) -Fresh fighting broke out on Wednesday along the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing more than a dozen civilians and troops to shatter a fragile peace after weekend clashes that killed dozens.

The weekend fighting was the worst between the neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, despite regular clashes between their security forces along the contested 2,600 km (1,600-mile) frontier.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it is prepared to operate the Gaza-side of a key crossing for aid between Egypt and Gaza.

"Now we are ready to engage again, and we have notified all parties that we are ready to operate the Rafah crossing," said Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel's defence minister threatened Wednesday to resume fighting if Hamas does not honour the terms of a US-backed ceasefire that halted the war in Gaza.

The statement from Defence Minister Israel Katz's office came after Hamas handed over the remains of two more deceased hostages, and said it would be unable to retrieve any more bodies from the ruins of Gaza without specialised equipment.

ROME (Reuters) -Almost 14 million people in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan risk severe hunger due to cuts in global humanitarian aid, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday.

The WFP's biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other major nations have also made or announced cuts in development and humanitarian assistance.

(Reuters) -Israel decided to proceed with opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and allowing the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza, after the return of the bodies of four hostages, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Wednesday.

Israel cancelled planned measures against Hamas that included halving the number of aid trucks entering the enclave, it said.

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

A new US president, focused on domestic priorities, criticizes his predecessor as too hard on Israel but soon takes on the mantle of peace and reaches a deal heralded around the world.

In September 1993, it was Bill Clinton, who brought Israeli and Palestinian leaders together at the White House for the landmark first Oslo accord which marked the beginnings of Palestinian self-governance.

This weekend it was Donald Trump who sealed an agreement to end two years of devastating war in Gaza and hailed a "historic dawn of a new Middle East."

By Angelo Amante

UDINE, Italy (Reuters) -Thousands of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Tuesday marched in the northern Italian city of Udine before Italy's World Cup soccer qualifier against Israel, concluding their mostly peaceful protest with clashes involving police.

The march, attended by over 5,000 participants according to preliminary police estimates, wound its way through the city centre from late afternoon, before the match at the Friuli Stadium, which Italy won 3-0, kicked off at 20:45 (1845 GMT).

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had communicated to Hamas that the militant group must disarm or it will be forced to.

On Monday, Hamas freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza, and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees under a ceasefire deal brokered by Trump, but Hamas has not publicly committed to downing its weapons.

DHUMAIR, Syria -The Assad government carried out a two-year clandestine operation to truck thousands of bodies from one of Syria’s largest known mass graves to a secret location more than an hour away in the remote desert, a Reuters investigation has found.

The conspiracy by President Bashar al-Assad’s military to excavate the mass grave in Qutayfah and create an enormous second mass grave in the desert outside the town of Dhumair has not been previously reported.