When President Donald Trump froze nearly all US foreign aid, Cambodia was forced to suspend workers removing dangerous mines from the country -- until China stepped in with the necessary funding.

In the Cook Islands, traditionally bound to New Zealand and friendly with the United States, the prime minister has announced plans to head to Beijing to sign a cooperation deal.

Successive US administrations have vowed to wage a global competition with China, described as the only potential rival for global leadership.

A suspension of US foreign aid and possible dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will have a major impact on some of the world's poorest countries, the Washington-based Center for Global Development (CGD) warned Tuesday.

For more than 20 economies, a year-long pause on US aid could mean a loss of over one percent of their gross national income, the CGD said in a blog post.

And eight economies including South Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan could face a hit of three percent or more, the group added.

More than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the "humanitarian catastrophe" that has gripped the war-ravaged territory, including $20 billion in the first three years alone, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The global body said in a report that a "political and security framework" must also be put in place so that recovery and rebuilding can begin, and a groundwork can be laid for a political process to quickly end the Israeli occupation "and establish a viable two-State solution."

In a centuries-old monastery on a rocky hill north of Damascus, friends of missing Italian priest Paolo Dall'Oglio carry on his legacy, hopeful Bashar al-Assad's ouster might help reveal the Jesuit's fate.

"We want to know if Father Paolo is alive or dead, who imprisoned him, and what was his fate," said Father Jihad Youssef who heads Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Damascus.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his idea of exiling Palestinians and placing a rebuilt Gaza under "US authority" but faced pushback from visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II.

"I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all," Abdullah said on social media after the talks.

A Swedish court on Tuesday sentenced a 52-year-old woman to 12 years in prison on genocide charges, in the country's first court case over crimes by the Islamic State group against the Yazidi minority.

Accused of keeping Yazidi women and children as slaves at her home in Syria in 2015, Lina Ishaq was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Stockholm district court said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump set a Saturday deadline for all hostages to be released from Gaza, saying that otherwise "all hell" would break out and he would call for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire to be canceled.

Trump's latest extraordinary intervention in the Middle East came after Hamas threatened to postpone any further hostage-prisoner exchanges, placing the fragile six-week truce that took effect on January 19 at risk.

Dozens of Palestinian families fled on Monday from the Nur Shams refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, as Israel pushed on with a sweeping military operation.

"We hear explosions and bombings as well as bulldozers. It's a tragedy. They are doing here what they did in Gaza," said Ahmed Ezza, a resident.

Ahmed Abu Zahra, another resident of the camp which is on the outskirts of Tulkarem, said he was forced to leave his home.

"The (Israeli) army came and we were forced to leave after they started destroying our homes".

At the key intersection of Gaza's Netzarim Corridor and the Salaheddin Road, US and Egyptian security personnel, armed and wearing military fatigues, inspected vehicles carrying Palestinians, many of them displaced by the war.

On Monday morning, traffic moved slowly to the checkpoint at the crossing, which Palestinians call Martyrs Intersection, and from which Israeli forces withdrew a day earlier.

Ahmed al-Rai said the US and Egyptian officers were "respectful" even if their checks on vehicles were "slow and trying".

Israel threatened Tuesday to resume "intense fighting" in Gaza if hostages were not released this weekend, while Hamas insisted it remained committed to the ceasefire deal and accused Israel of violations.

Under the terms of the truce, which has largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, captives were to be released in batches in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. So far, Israel and Hamas have completed five hostage-prisoner swaps.