France said on Friday that its plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state runs counter to the stance held by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"Hamas has always ruled out a two-state solution. By recognizing Palestine, France goes against that terrorist organization," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X, a day after President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize Palestinian statehood in September.

The U.S. special envoy for Syria said he held talks with Syrian and Israeli officials in Paris on Thursday on de-escalating sectarian violence in Syria.

"I met this evening with the Syrians and Israelis in Paris. Our goal was dialogue and de-escalation, and we accomplished precisely that," said the envoy, Tom Barrack, on X.

One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, arrived in Beirut on Friday, having been released from prison after more than 40 years behind bars for the alleged killings of two diplomats.

The United States on Wednesday announced the approval of $322 million in arms sales to bolster Ukraine's air defenses and its armored combat vehicles.

A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Iran within two to three weeks, an Iranian official said Wednesday, adding that the group will not have access to the country's nuclear sites.

The White House pulled out all the stops Wednesday to promote claims that Barack Obama headed a "treasonous conspiracy" against Donald Trump, seeking to redirect public attention from uproar over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein affair.

The Israeli army said eight soldiers were wounded on Thursday when a driver deliberately rammed his car into a bus stop in what police called a "terror attack".

The army said two soldiers were "moderately injured" and six "lightly injured" in the attack at the Beit Lid junction near Kfar Yona in central Israel.

An Israeli woman has been charged with plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Israel said on Thursday it was recalling its Gaza ceasefire negotiators from Doha for consultations following a response from Palestinian militant group Hamas to the latest proposal for a 60-day truce.

Damascus's top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani is set to meet an Israeli minister on Thursday in Paris to discuss recent sectarian violence in Syria's south that had drawn in Israel's military, a senior diplomat told AFP.