Asian markets fell and oil prices extended gains Friday on worries that an expected ground invasion of Gaza by Israel will spark a wider conflict in the Middle East.

The first aid delivery into the besieged Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt should take place "in the next day or so", the United Nations said Friday.

The last time Saja Samy heard from her family in Gaza, they were sheltering, along with thousands of others, at a hospital compound under threat of Israeli air strikes.

An Indian firm is terminating a longstanding contract to make uniforms for the Israeli police, telling AFP on Friday that it had made a "moral decision" in light of the war in Gaza.

The president also stressed the urgency of getting relief to Palestinian civilians in Gaza who lack food, water and medicine

The Hamas-controlled interior ministry said several displaced people sheltering at a church compound in Gaza were killed and injured after an Israeli strike late Thursday

Palestinians desperately awaited a first delivery of international emergency aid to Gaza Friday, as Israeli forces pounded the enclave from the air and warned a ground invasion was coming "soon".

China's special Mideast envoy pinned the cause of the Israel-Gaza crisis on the lack of guarantees for Palestinian rights and urged greater coordination with Moscow in a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Qatar, a key go-between in the conflict.

At least a hundred protesters occupied a building of the US Congress on Wednesday urging lawmakers and Joe Biden's administration to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, which has been under Israeli airstrikes since a deadly Hamas attack

Thousands of tonnes of aid bound for Gaza remained on the Egyptian side of the border Thursday, after US President Joe Biden struck a deal with Egypt and Israel to allow relief in

France has regretted the failure of the draft resolution brought by Brazil to the UN Security Council, condemning all violence against civilians in Israel-Hamas war and urging humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced a one-day state mourning for Saturday commemorating the deaths of Palestinians in Israel attacks

Russia on Thursday sent 27 tonnes of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip to be transported from Egypt, Moscow's emergency situations ministry said.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will travel to Israel on Thursday before heading to other countries in the region in an effort to deescalate the Israel-Gaza conflict, his office has said

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Egypt's prime minister on Thursday that Beijing hoped to work with his country to bring "more stability" to the Middle East, state media reported, as the deadly Israel-Hamas conflict cast a shadow over the region

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to allow a first batch of around 20 humanitarian aid trucks through, US President Joe Biden said Wednesday

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today denounced the Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed innocent people including children, reiterating her call to global leaders to stop the war and arms race for the wellbeing of mankind

The United States authorised non-essential personnel and their families to leave their embassy near Beirut on Tuesday, citing the unpredictable security situation in Lebanon due to the Israel-Hamas war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to offer condolences over a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital and voice support for Palestinians' "legitimate aspirations," the State Department said Wednesday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified" by hundreds of people killed in Tuesday's strike on a Gaza hospital