ASHKELON, Israel, May 3 (Reuters) - An Israeli court has extended by two days the detention of two activists arrested aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters near Greece, their lawyer said on Sunday.

Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were detained by Israeli authorities late on Wednesday and brought to Israel, while more than 100 other pro-Palestinian activists aboard the boats were taken to the Greek island of Crete.

Iran warned on Monday that it would consider any US attempt to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz a breach of the Mideast ceasefire, as President Donald Trump said the United States would begin escorting ships through the blocked waterway.

Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, and Iran's stranglehold on the strategic strait following US-Israeli attacks on Tehran has been a main point of contention.

Two young Sudanese women appear to have suffocated to death on Sunday while trying to reach Britain from northern France in a small boat crammed with more than 80 people including pregnant women and children, officials said.

This was the third such tragedy in just over a month.

The women, aged around 20, were aboard a small boat carrying 82 people that set out to sea south of the town of Neufchatel-Hardelot, Christophe Marx, a local government official, told reporters.

By Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily and Tom Perry

BEIRUT, May 3 (Reuters) - Hezbollah has paid a heavy price for going to war with Israel on March 2: Israel has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands of its Shi'ite Muslim constituents and killed as many as several thousand of its fighters, according to previously unreported casualty estimates from within the group.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Tanker struck near the UAE -

Unidentified projectiles struck a tanker off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Monday, adding that all crew members were safe.

The incident occurred 78 nautical miles north of the UAE city of Fujairah, the agency said.

- US to escort ships through Hormuz -

JERUSALEM, May 3 (Reuters) - Israel gave final approval for a plan to purchase two new combat squadrons of F-35 and F-15Ia aircraft from Lockheed Martin and Boeing in a deal worth tens of billions shekels, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer, Editing by William Maclean)

As Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz roils the global economy, one German town has been scrambling to help make up the shortfall in essential supplies of fertilisers.

Wittenberg, better known to many as a cradle of the Protestant Reformation, is also home to a chemical plant founded in 1915, in the midst of World War I.

At that time the aim was to produce nitrogen for explosives and fertilisers to circumvent a blockade which prevented certain raw materials being imported from Chile.

Seven OPEC+ members are meeting Sunday to make their first decision on oil-production quotas since the United Arab Emirates' departure from the cartel, which added to the soaring price pressure unleashed by the Mideast war.

The UAE, one of the world's top producers, announced April 28 it was withdrawing from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the expanded OPEC+ group, after chafing at their production quotas. The withdrawal took effect on Friday.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, May 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday that there is the possibility the United States could restart strikes on Iran.

Trump was responding to a reporter's question at West Palm Beach in Florida.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom)

By Parisa Hafezi and Jacob Bogage

DUBAI/WEST PALM BEACH, May 2 (Reuters) - An Iranian proposal so far rejected by U.S. President Donald Trump would open shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and end the U.S. blockade of Iran while leaving talks on Iran's nuclear program for later, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday.