Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused French President Emmanuel Macron of siding with a "murderous Islamist terrorist organization" after Macron criticized Israel's blocking of aid to Gaza.

"Macron has once again chosen to stand with a murderous Islamist terrorist organization and echo its despicable propaganda, accusing Israel of blood libels," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Israeli airstrikes pounded northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 60 people, including almost two dozen children, according to local hospitals and health officials, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was "no way" he would halt Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory before Hamas is defeated.

At least 50 people, including 22 children, were killed in the strikes around Jabaliya in northern Gaza, according to local hospitals and Gaza's Health Ministry. At least ten other people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, the European Hospital reported.

President Donald Trump arrived Wednesday in Qatar, where he was greeted by the country’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani, as he kicked off the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour this week.

In a stunning engagement earlier in the day in Saudi Arabia, Trump met with Syria's new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa — a onetime insurgent who had spent years imprisoned by U.S. troops in Iraq. Trump said the rapprochement with Syria came at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Pope Leo XIV vowed to take "every effort" Wednesday to work for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and to actively promote the spirituality and traditions of the eastern rite churches, those Catholic communities with origins in the Mideast and eastern Europe that have been decimated by years of conflict and persecution.

"The church needs you!" Leo told a Holy Year audience of eastern rite pilgrims.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Gulf leaders on Wednesday that he urgently wants "to make a deal" with Iran to wind down its nuclear program but that Tehran must end its support of proxy groups throughout the region as part of any potential agreement.

Iran "must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons," Trump said in remarks at a meeting of leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi capital. "They cannot have a nuclear weapon."

France will expel Algerian diplomats in response to plans by Algiers to send more French officials home, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Wednesday, as relations between the countries deteriorate.

Barrot told the BFMTV broadcaster that he would summon Algeria's charge d'affaires to inform him of the decision that he said was "perfectly proportionate at this point" to the Algerian move, which he called "unjustified and unjustifiable".

Israel is threatening military action against Iran while U.S. President Donald Trump pursues diplomacy, exposing a growing rift between the long-time allies over how to confront the Islamic republic's advancing nuclear program.

As a fourth round of indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. kicked off in Muscat on Sunday, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar emphasized that his country would not allow Tehran, under any circumstances, to develop its nuclear program.

President Donald Trump was meeting Wednesday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, going face-to-face with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by U.S. forces after being captured in Iraq.

Trump agreed to "say hello" to al-Sharaa before the U.S. leader wraps up his stay in Saudi Arabia and heads to Qatar, where Trump is to be honored with a state visit. His Mideast tour also will take him to the United Arab Emirates.

Israel's military on Wednesday told Yemenis to stay away from three Houthi-controlled ports, a warning that signaled it could target the sites after intercepting a missile fired by the Iran-backed rebels.

"Due to the use of sea ports by the terrorist Houthi regime... we urge all people present in these ports to evacuate and stay away from them for your safety until further notice," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, mentioning the Yemeni ports of Hodeida, Ras Issa and Salif.

Hamas on Tuesday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that military pressure had helped secure the release of U.S.-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander from Gaza a day earlier.