Key mediator Qatar said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their "final stages" on Tuesday, expressing hope an agreement could be reached "very soon".

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have intensified efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages taken during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Late on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into a meeting with top security officials to discuss the deal, his office said.

Tunisians protested on Tuesday in the capital on the 14th anniversary of the uprising that sparked the Arab Spring revolts across the region, calling to release jailed political figures.

The dozens-strong march in Tunis, organised by a political coalition that includes staunch opponents of current President Kais Saied, commemorated the day in 2011 when dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Tuesday for talks on trade, security and migration hailed by Baghdad as marking a "new era" for the countries' ties.

The Iraqi prime minister's visit to London, during which he will also meet King Charles III, comes more than 20 years after Britain took part in the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Nawaf Salam, Lebanon's new prime minister, is a leading international judge who won support for staying out of the political infighting that has paralysed the crisis-hit country in recent years.

The 71-year-old, who until now was presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, hails from a prominent Beirut political family.

A Gaza truce and hostage release deal is close and could be finalized in the final week of US President Joe Biden's term, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.

"We are close to a deal, and it can get done this week. I'm not making a promise or prediction, but it is there for the taking, and we are going to work to make it happen," Sullivan told reporters.

Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and called the ruler of mediator Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on Monday as negotiations intensified.

US President Joe Biden said Monday that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal between Hamas and Israel was "on the brink" of being finalised, even as heavy fighting rocked the Palestinian territory.

Since early January, international mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have intensified efforts to reach a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, which would help facilitate the release of hostages still being held there.

A German-Iranian woman held in Iran for over four years has returned to Germany, her family said Monday, as a Frenchman detained by the Islamic republic since October 2022 revealed his identity in an audio message and said he was exhausted by his ordeal.

Western countries have for years accused Iran of detaining their nationals on trumped-up charges in a policy of state hostage-taking to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions.

Ilana Gritzewsky was released from captivity more than a year ago, but with her partner and dozens of other Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, her fight is far from over.

"My soul is still there," Gritzewsky, 31, told AFP in an interview at the Tel Aviv headquarters of an Israeli campaign group pressing for a deal to rescue captives seized during Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023.

A Frenchman held in Iran since October 2022 on Monday revealed his identity in an audio message broadcast on a French radio station, saying he was becoming increasingly exhausted over his ordeal.

Olivier Grondeau, 34, had previously only been identified by his first name and French authorities had not released details of his case.

In an audio message aired on France Inter on Monday, Grondeau fully identified himself and warned that he and the other two French detainees held in Iran were "exhausted".

Iran and European powers said they held "frank and constructive" talks on Monday about Tehran's nuclear programme, just a week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

It was the second round of such talks in less than two months, following a discreet meeting in Geneva last November between Tehran and the three European powers, Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3.

Few details were revealed about the topics discussed Monday or even the venue of the talks, but both sides said they were "constructive" and that the parties agreed to carry them on.