The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from over three months of war between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers has soared past 25,000, the Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday.

At least 178 bodies were brought to Gaza's hospitals in 124 hours along with nearly 300 wounded people, according to Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over Gaza and that "this is contrary to a Palestinian state," rejecting U.S. President Joe Biden's suggestion that creative solutions could bridge wide gaps between the leaders' views on Palestinian statehood.

In a sign of the pressures Netanyahu's government faces at home, thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv calling for new elections, and others demonstrated outside the prime minister's house, joining families of the more than 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas and other militants. They fear that Israel's military activity further endangers hostages' lives.

Israeli police scuffled with relatives of captives held by Hamas after the group of family members blocked a major Tel Aviv highway, a sign of growing tensions over the government’s lack of visible progress in reaching a new deal to secure the captives' release.

Shahar Mor, whose nephew Avraham remains in Gaza, said he was one of seven protesters detained by police after the protest late Thursday. Footage showed demonstrators holding up signs reading “Deal Now” as they faced long lines of cars.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke Friday after a glaring, nearly four-week gap in direct communication during which fundamental differences have come into focus over a possible pathway to Palestinian statehood once the fighting in Gaza ends.

Tens of thousands of public sector workers walked off the job across Northern Ireland on Thursday to protest political deadlock that has left them without pay increases, and the region without a functioning government.

Schools were closed, hospitals offered a skeleton service and authorities warned people not to travel unless it was essential as road-gritting crews joined the strike in the middle of a bitterly cold snap.

A smile creased Daniil Medvedev's face as he walked to the net in Rod Laver Arena at 3:39 a.m., finally a winner in the Australian Open's second round after five sets spread across nearly 4 1/2 hours in the third-latest finish in Grand Slam history.

Zero chance Medvedev would have been there at that time if he didn't need to be. If he were one of the spectators in the nearly empty stands, and a match stretched past, say, 1 a.m., the 2021 U.S. Open champion said, "I would be like, 'OK, let's go home. We're going to catch the end of the match on the TV. Going to watch 30 minutes, then go to bed.'"

Turkey's first astronaut along with a Swede and Italian launched Thursday to the International Space Station on a chartered SpaceX flight.

The Falcon rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in late afternoon, carrying the three men, all with military pilot experience and representing their homelands. Their escort on the trip: A retired NASA astronaut who now works for the company that arranged the private flight.

Mohamed Salah had to go off injured toward the end of the first half of Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations game against Ghana on Thursday.

The Liverpool star pulled up shortly before halftime, sat on the field while play continued at the other end, then indicated he couldn't continue when the team's medical staff went to treat him. He appeared to hold the back of his left thigh.

This week's airstrikes between Iran and Pakistan that killed at least 11 people mark a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors.

Long-running, low-level insurgencies on either side of the border have frustrated both countries, and the apparent targets of the strikes — Iran's on Tuesday and Pakistan's response on Thursday — were insurgent groups whose goal is an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Turkey's leading soccer club Basaksehir announced Thursday it has ended its contract with Israeli player Eden Karzev following a disciplinary probe of his social media post calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza by the Hamas militant group.

The club's decision came days after another Israeli player, Sagiv Jehezkel, was briefly detained in Turkey and questioned for allegedly inciting hatred after he expressed solidarity with the hostages after scoring an equalizer during a top-division game.