Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to Pope Francis, who died Monday at 88, calling him a "faithful friend of the Palestinian people".

"Today, we lost a faithful friend of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights," Abbas said, noting that Pope Francis "recognized the Palestinian state and authorized the Palestinian flag to be raised in the Vatican."

Qatar's chief negotiator voiced frustration over talks for a truce in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza without yielding to Hamas' demands, insisting the military campaign in the Palestinian territory had reached a "critical stage".

The United States will roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, the Pentagon said Friday.

Hamas has signaled its rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal and called for a "comprehensive" deal to end the 18-month-long war.

U.S. strikes on a Yemeni fuel port killed at least 58 people, Houthi rebels said Friday, in one of the deadliest attacks of Washington's renewed campaign against the Iran-backed group.

The strikes also injured around 100 people, according to a Houthi-run television station that broadcast footage of large blazes lighting up the night sky.

An intense series of suspected U.S. airstrikes hit sites across Yemen held by the Houthi rebels into Thursday morning, with at least one person reportedly being killed in the capital, Sanaa.

The strikes took place around multiple governorates in the country overnight, with the Houthis providing few details about the sites hit. The U.S. military's Central Command has provided no specifics on targets as well in its campaign, which has been hitting sites in Yemen since March 15.

A portrait of a young Palestinian boy who lost both arms as a result of an Israeli attack in Gaza was honored Thursday as World Press Photo of the year.

The photo, taken by Qatar-based Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times shows 9-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour with his arms missing just below each shoulder.

Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said Thursday that Israel had failed to respect January's ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"As you know, we reached an agreement months ago, but unfortunately Israel did not abide by this agreement," said the ruler of Qatar, a key mediator of the deal.

Hamas accused Israel on Thursday of attempting to starve the population of Gaza following Israel’s renewed declaration the previous day that no humanitarian aid would be allowed into the Palestinian territory.

"This is a public admission of committing a war crime, including the use of starvation as a weapon and the denial of basic necessities such as food, medicine, water, and fuel to innocent civilians for the seventh consecutive week," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.