Clashes between Sudanese paramilitaries and the army have killed at least 57 civilians in the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher, medical and activist sources said Thursday, with civilians fearing a looming bloodbath as fighters close in.

The local resistance committee, a grassroots aid group, said the civilians were killed on Wednesday in clashes following an artillery attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023.

More than three weeks after an Israeli military ambush killed 15 of her husband's fellow medics, Nafiza al-Nsasrah says she still has no idea where he is being held.

"We have no information, no idea which prison he's in or where he is being held, or what his health condition is," Nsasrah told AFP, showing a photograph of her husband Asaad in his medic's uniform at the wheel of an ambulance.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday that Nsasrah was in Israeli custody after being "forcibly abducted" when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances on March 23.

Members of the largest organisation representing British Jews have said Thursday they can no longer "turn a blind eye" to the Gaza war and that "Israel's soul is being ripped out".

In a major break with the Board of Deputies of British Jews' policy of supporting the Israeli leadership, 36 members criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in an open letter published in the Financial Times.

Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said Thursday that a rash of Israeli air strikes killed at least 40 people, most of them in encampments for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its offensive in the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the strikes, which came as Hamas officials said that internal deliberations on the latest Israeli truce offer were nearly complete.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Thursday that Iran and the United States were running out of time to secure a deal as they prepare to hold fresh nuclear talks this weekend.

Iranian and US delegations are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since US President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met a Russian-Israeli man freed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas after more than a year in captivity and promised to help free other hostages.

The Kremlin leader thanked Hamas for releasing the man and said it was the result of Russia's strong relations with the Palestinian people.

"Thank God you are alive and well and you are here," Putin told Alexander Trufanov, 29, late Wednesday. Trufanov said he had been held prisoner for 498 days.

Trufanov, identified by Israel as Sasha Trupanov was released in February.

Signature flamboyance is on the menu when the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest opens next month in Basel -- but looming large over the festivities is Israel's participation in the event.

Switzerland's third-biggest city of Basel hosts this year's extravaganza, which is one of world's biggest annual live television events.

The contest, nearly 70 years old, will bring together 37 countries, and conclude with the final on May 17.

Israel has taken part since 1973, because its public broadcaster was in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

This weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the final leg of the first 'triple header' of the season.

From Suzuka in Japan, to the desert of Bahrain, Formula One now pitches up on the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah.

AFP Sport looks at five talking points ahead of the fifth round of the 24-race season:

Advantage McLaren

Oscar Piastri put in a faultless display from pole last Sunday in Sakhir to make it three wins out of four for the British marque.

The UN nuclear watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi warned that Iran was "not far" from possessing a nuclear bomb, shortly before he arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks.

Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons -- an allegation Tehran has consistently denied, insisting that its programme is for peaceful civilian purposes.

"It's like a puzzle. They have the pieces, and one day they could eventually put them together," Grossi told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published on Wednesday.

Israel announced Wednesday it had converted 30 percent of Gaza into a buffer zone as it pressed its unrelenting military offensive, vowing to maintain its blockade on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered security chiefs and negotiators to keep pressing for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, where Israel resumed air and ground attacks on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.