The United Nations said Thursday that its aid agency UNRWA would continue working in all Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, even as Israel cut ties with the organisation.

After Israel accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, legislation severing ties with the agency came into force on Thursday, a move likely to hamper its vital services after 15 months of war in Gaza.

The agency is banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials is also forbidden.

A freed ex-militant received a hero's welcome in the occupied West Bank on Thursday after chaos during a Gaza hostage release briefly delayed the third Israel-Hamas exchange under a ceasefire deal.

At around dusk, two buses carrying released inmates left from the West Bank's Ofer Prison after Israel said it had received assurances from mediators over the future "safe release" of captives.

Hundreds of joyous Palestinians greeted them when they arrived in Ramallah, an AFP correspondent said.

Weeping, Fairuz Shalish grasps the red earth at an unmarked grave in Syria that she believes may hold her son, one of tens of thousands of people who vanished under ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands poured out of the country's web of prisons in the final days of Assad's rule and after Islamist-led rebels toppled him on December 8.

But as the weeks go by, many families are still desperately searching for news of relatives who were detained or went missing during years of his iron-fisted rule.

US aid experts on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's claim that the United States had spent $50 million to fund condoms for the war-battered Gaza Strip, which the president has sought to make a poster child for wasteful spending.

"We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas," Trump told reporters, referring to the militant group that has ruled the Palestinian territory for nearly two decades.

"And do you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs."

Syria's new authorities announced Wednesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad's ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.

A rebel alliance led by Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, ending five decades of his family's iron-fisted rule, with a transitional government previously installed to steer the country until March 1.

Prince Feisal Al-Hussein of Jordan says he can bridge continents and cultures if he becomes the first president of the International Olympic Committee from outside Europe and the United States.

The 61-year-old brother of King Abdullah II is a familiar face at the IOC but believes he can offer something radically different to the other six candidates bidding to succeed Thomas Bach of Germany.

Israel said on Wednesday that 11 more hostages held in Gaza, including five Thai nationals, would be freed this week as part of a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it had received a list from Hamas of eight hostages to be freed on Thursday, including the Thais, and another three, all men, to be released on Saturday.

The announcement came shortly after Hamas officials had accused Israel of delaying aid deliveries to Gaza and jeopardising the agreement.

Israel alleged on Wednesday that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is full of Hamas operatives and reaffirmed its commitment to end ties with the agency this week.

"UNRWA equals Hamas. Israel has made public irrefutable evidence UNRWA is riddled with Hamas operatives," government spokesman David Mencer told journalists as Israel prepares to cut ties with the agency on Thursday.

"Israel makes clear... if a state funds UNRWA, that state is funding terrorists.

Two Hamas officials on Wednesday accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of hostages.

"We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange," a senior Hamas official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli forces killed two people in separate overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, including one in Jenin, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.

The Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement that a 25-year-old man it identified as Osama Abu al-Hija was killed late on Tuesday in Jenin "as a result of an Israeli air strike".

The military told AFP that an Israeli aircraft conducted a strike in Jenin on Tuesday night "after a terrorist threw an explosive device" towards troops.