Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume its fight against Hamas if the militant group does not go ahead with the next scheduled release of hostages on Saturday.

Hamas said Monday — and reiterated Tuesday — that it planned to delay the release of three more hostages after accusing Israel of failing to meet the terms of the ceasefire, including by not allowing enough tents and other aid into Gaza.

US President Donald Trump has emboldened Israel to call for the release of even more remaining hostages on Saturday, but it wasn't immediately clear whether Netanyahu's threat referred to the release of all remaining hostages in Gaza, or just the three scheduled for release on Saturday.

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Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli official said Netanyahu ordered the army to add more troops in and around the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu also ordered officials "to prepare for every scenario if Hamas doesn't release our hostages this Saturday," according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Israel had signaled Monday it planned to reinforce defences along the Gaza border.

The all-scenario plan was announced during a four-hour meeting between Netanyahu and his Security Cabinet that focused on Hamas' threat, which risks jeopardising the three-week-old ceasefire.

So far, Hamas has released 21 hostages in a series of exchanges for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

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President Donald Trump has said Israel should cancel the entire ceasefire if all of the roughly 70 hostages aren't freed by Saturday.

Hamas brushed off his threat on Tuesday, doubling down on its claim that Israel has violated the ceasefire and warned that it would only continue releasing hostages if all parties adhered to the ceasefire.

Trump is hosting Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza — perhaps permanently — as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.

Palestinians and the international community have seethed over Trump's recent comments that any Palestinians potentially expelled from Gaza would not have a right to return.

During the first six-week phase of the ceasefire, Hamas committed to freeing 33 hostages captured in its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while Israel said it would release nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners.

The sides have carried out five swaps since January 19.

The war could resume in early March if no agreement is reached on the more complicated second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for the return of all remaining hostages and an indefinite extension of the truce.

But if Israel resumes the war, it will face a drastically different battlefield. After forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate to southern Gaza in the early stages of the war, Israel allowed many of those displaced people to return to what is left of their homes, posing a new challenge to its ability to move ground troops through the territory.

The body of water formerly known in the US as the Gulf of Mexico is now listed for US-based users of Google Maps as the Gulf of America.

The change follows an executive order by US President Donald Trump renaming the area.

Google has previously said it has "a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources".

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"People using Maps in the US will see 'Gulf of America,' and people in Mexico will see 'Gulf of Mexico.' Everyone else will see both names," it said in a statement yesterday.

Google said last month it would also change the name of Mount McKinley, the nation's highest peak, from Denali following Trump's order.

Former President Barack Obama renamed the Alaska landmark to Denali in 2015 as a nod to the region's native population.

But that change hasn't been made on Google Maps as of today.

Both changes stem from an executive action that Trump signed shortly after taking office, saying the changes "honour American greatness".

The order criticised Obama's decision to rename McKinley as "an affront to President McKinley's life, his achievements, and his sacrifice".

Drawing parallels to Trump, the order notes that McKinley "championed tariffs" and was assassinated "in an attack on our Nation's values and our success".

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It is known for being the punch line of many jokes over the years, and was once named the "a—hole of the world" by Mick Jagger, but now New Zealand locality Invercargill has been left feeling salty after their Council claimed the city vanished off Google Maps.

In a post on Facebook, the Invercargill City Council said the Southland city had "mysteriously disappeared".

On further investigation, it appears the city had not quite disappeared but simply required a few zooms to appear on the map.

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Despite this, other nearby smaller towns given greater prominence on Google Maps include Gore and Bluff, with both showing up ahead of Tim Shadbolt's old haunt.

An elaborate joke, or a simple IT error, the council appears to see the funny side of the situation, saying online, " If you're trying to find us, maybe just type in "That place near Bluff?'"

They went on to add "For years, we've been Southland's best-kept secret—cheese roll capital, the Burt Munro Challenge, and so much more", adding "Clearly, Google is trying to gatekeep this paradise—and honestly? Fair enough".

In their post, the council also jokingly took aim at Gore saying "whoever in Gore that got us removed, I will make sure that your next cheese roll is stale and not with garlic butter."

People responding to the post managed to see the funny side of the situation as well, with some seemingly even happy for Invercargill to be excluded.

One person said, "All good with that. The less they know about our little part of paradise. The better. And there's always Gore." Another said, "That's great, it's now a secret".

Other people also had elaborate reasons as to why Invercargill was not showing up immediately on the map, with one person saying the council had forgotten to pay its maintenance fee to Google and another posting, "We have to buy it back in our rates bill."

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Invercargill City Council spokesperson Lisa Knight told Stuff they were not sure if the city's recent omission from Google Maps was just a temporary blip or "subterfuge by one of our rivals (we're looking at you, Gore)".

Knight said they have reached out to Google asking that they put Waihōpai Invercargill back on the map while also seeking answers as to why they were dropped off.

She added that despite Google Maps not showing Invercargill, the city is still around.

"The cheese rolls are still rolling, our infamous southern hospitality is still ready and waiting to welcome anybody who can find us, and our main man – Henry the tuatara – is still standing staunch in his brand new home, Te Moutere Tuatara Island, in the award-winning Queens Park."

This is not the first time, however, that one of the big tech giants has drawn the ire of a New Zealand city.

In 2012, Apple mistakenly misplaced Dunedin International Airport in the Octagon, while Timaru Airport was marked as being in a Christchurch suburb.

Both errors occurred during an update of Apple Maps.

Google has been approached for comment.

This article originally appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.

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President Donald Trump said Monday that a precarious ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas should be cancelled if Hamas doesn't release all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza by midday on Saturday — though he also said that such a decision would be up to Israel.

Trump was responding to Hamas saying it will delay the further release of hostages in the Gaza Strip after accusing Israel of violating the three-week-old ceasefire.

The US president said that after the freeing of three visibly emaciated hostages on Saturday it was time for Israel to demand the release of all hostages by noon on Saturday, or restart the war.

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"If they're not here, all hell is going to break out," Trump said.

He added of the ceasefire, "Cancel it, and all bets are off."

Trump said the final decision would be up to Israel, saying, "I'm speaking for myself. Israel can override it."

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But asked if the US would join in a response to Hamas if hostages weren't freed, Trump added, "Hamas will find out what I mean."

Those comments came after Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel that Palestinians in Gaza would not have a right to return under his plan for US "ownership" of the war-torn territory — contradicting other officials in his administration who have sought to argue Trump was only calling for the temporary relocation of its population.

Less than a week after he floated his plan for the US to take control of Gaza and turn it into "the Riviera of the Middle East," Trump, in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier airing Monday, said "No, they wouldn't" when asked if Palestinians in Gaza would have a right to return to the territory.

It comes as he has ramped up pressure on Arab states, especially US allies Jordan and Egypt, to take in Palestinians from Gaza, who claim the territory as part of a future homeland.

"We'll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is," Trump said.

"In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent."

Arab nations have sharply criticised the Trump proposal, and Trump is set to host Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday.

In addition to concerns about jeopardising the long-held goals of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily.

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When asked how he'd convince Abdullah to take in Palestinians, Trump told reporters, "I do think he'll take, and I think other countries will take also. They have good hearts."

But he also threatened to potentially withhold billions of dollars of US assistance to Jordan and Egypt if they don't go along with his plan.

"Yeah, maybe, sure why not," Trump said.

"If they don't, I would conceivably withhold aid, yes."

Trump's comments risked jeopardising the already tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after 15 months of war, with the existing framework for negotiations calling for the massive humanitarian and reconstruction assistance for civilians in Gaza.

After Trump's initial comments last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio respectfully insisted that Trump only wanted Palestinians relocated from Gaza "temporarily" and for an "interim" period to allow for debris removal, the disposal of unexploded ordnance and reconstruction.

Speaking of the condition of the remaining hostages, Trump told reporters Monday that he feared Hamas had released the hostages in the best condition and that many scheduled for release are gravely ill or already dead.

"Based on what I saw over the past two days, they're not going to be alive for long," he said.

In a video message released Saturday after Hamas freed the latest hostages on Saturday, Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, the parents of slain American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, called on Trump and his negotiating team to "think bigger and faster" and press for the release of all the remaining hostages this week.

"All 76 hostages out this week," they said.

"End of war. Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let's get it done right now."

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Trump last week didn't rule out deploying US troops to help secure Gaza but at the same time insisted no US funds would go to pay for the reconstruction of the territory, raising fundamental questions about the nature of his plan.

Egypt on Monday reiterated its rejection to the transfer of Palestinians from their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, warning that such proposals threaten "the foundations of people" in the Middle East.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem its capital is the base for "comprehensive and just peace" in the region.

The statement said Egypt rejects any violations to the Palestinians' "right of self-determination … and independence," and "upholds the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were forced to leave their homeland," in a reference to hundreds of thousands who were forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war.

A senior Hamas official blasted Trump's latest remarks about the US ownership of Gaza as "absurd."

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' politico bureau, said these comments "reflect a deep ignorance of Palestine and the region."

In comments released by Hamas early Monday, he said Trump's approach toward the Palestinian cause will fail.

"Dealing with the Palestinian cause with the mentality of a real estate dealer is a recipe for failure," he said. "Our Palestinian people will thwart all transfer and deportation plans."

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All 10 people killed when a regional airline flight crashed off the coast of western Alaska have been recovered and identified, authorities said on Saturday.

"All ten individuals aboard the Bering Air plane have been officially brought home," the Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post Saturday night.

"Nome SAR efforts stand by for our Bering Air crew to complete their aircraft recovery operations."

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The small commuter aircraft carrying nine passengers and one pilot took off from Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon before disappearing.

The plane was later found on Friday about 54km southeast of Nome, the flight's intended destination, according to the US Coast Guard.

All 10 on board were declared dead.

The pilot of the plane was 34-year-old Chad Antill of Nome, while the passengers were identified by Alaska State Troopers as Liane Ryan, 52; Donnell Erickson, 58; Andrew Gonzalez, 30; Kameron Hartvigson, 41; Rhone Baumgartner, 46; Jadee Moncur, 52; Ian Hofmann, 45; Talaluk Katchatag, 34; and Carol Mooers, 48.

The wreckage is currently resting on sea ice that officials described as young and unstable, and heavy snow and winds in the area are expected this weekend.

The bodies were the first be recovered, then the plane will be taken for further analysis, officials said.

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"We don't know how long that's going to take. It could go hours; it could go potentially days. Coming up to tomorrow we have 18 hours of potential recovery time," Jim West, chief of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department, said at a news conference on Friday night, citing the ever-changing conditions of the crash's site and incoming weather.

A winter weather advisory is now in effect until 9pm Sunday (local time), with blowing snow, rain and mixed precipitation to be expected in Nome and other parts of western Alaska, the National Weather Service announced.

Some areas may see up to five inches of snow, with ice accumulations of around a tenth of an inch, the NWS said.

Wind gusts as high as 73km/hour will also be recorded.

"The conditions out there are dynamic, so we've got to do it safely and the fastest we can," he added.

Learning how the accident unfolded

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash –– and how the aircraft suddenly dropped in elevation and speed.

Analysing air traffic control data will be key to the National Transportation Safety Board's probe, officials said.

The NTSB has nine people working on the ground along with a dozen specialists supporting them back in Washington, DC, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Saturday news conference.

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"Please understand there's some difficult conditions, because this is on an ice floe, which is moving about five miles a day," she added.

The Cessna aircraft, operated by Bering Air, was about 19km offshore when its position was lost, according to the Coast Guard.

The aircraft "experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed" around 3.18pm Thursday, Coast Guard Lt. Commander Benjamin McIntyre-Coble said.

The search for the aircraft had been complicated by multiple factors, including inclement weather as well as the missing plane had not communicated its position through an emergency transmitter, officials said.

Visibility was better for searchers on Friday morning:

The sky was clear at Nome Airport around 10am, with temperatures of around -15 degrees.

The National Guard and Coast Guard added helicopter search teams to the effort Friday morning, while another Coast Guard C-130 landed in Nome to assist with the search, the fire department said.

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A small community accustomed to flying mourns

At a vigil hosted by the city of Nome on Friday, Amanda Snyder, pastor at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, urged those in attendance to lean on each other for support.

"Please do not isolate yourself in your grief. In the coming days, in the weeks, as we begin to hear of which families are impacted, our hearts are going to break over and over, and it's okay to mourn and grief, but please do not isolate," Snyder said.

"Words can't express the loss we're all feeling, we're all connected in so many ways," said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who joined the vigil via video conference.

"It's hard to accept the reality of our loss."

It is not unusual for Alaskans to travel between places by small plane due to the vast landscape and lack of transportation infrastructure available.

"It's just heartbreaking. Because every single person in this room has been on one of those planes," Snyder told The Nome Nugget, the city's local paper.

"It hits home."

Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson were two employees from Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium who travelled to Unalakleet "to service a heat recovery system that is critical to the community's water plant," the nonprofit said on Friday night.

"Rhone Baumgartner and Kameron Hartvigson were passionate about the work they did, cared deeply for the communities they served, and made a lasting impact on rural communities across our state," Natasha Singh, ANTHC interim president and CEO, said in a statement.

"They were the best at what they did and had just flown into Unalakleet to help address heating and mechanical issues in the depths of winter.

They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the people we serve in the work we do."

Homendy said she understands how tragic the crash is to the area.

"The NTSB knows that villages like Nome and Alaska aviation are tight-knit communities, so this tragedy affects so many," she said on Saturday.

"Please know that we'll work diligently to determine how this happened, with the ultimate goal of improving safety here in Alaska and across the United States."

For the Israeli hostages freed on Saturday, the suffering did not end when Hamas militants paraded their frail and gaunt figures on a stage in Gaza ahead of their release to the Red Cross.

Only later, after the freed men arrived back in Israel, would two of them discover that some of the loved ones they had hoped to see again were already dead.

During their stage-managed appearance at the hands of Hamas militants, one of the Israeli hostages, Eli Sharabi, told the crowd that he hoped to see his wife Lianne and daughters Noiya and Yahel.

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All three were killed in Kibbutz Be'eri during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 – but it was only on his return to Israel that Sharabi learnt their fate, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Sharabi did appear to know, however, that his brother Yossi – who was also taken hostage by Hamas – had subsequently died in Gaza, where his body remains, according to the Israeli military.

Both men and their families had lived at the kibbutz, where more than 100 people were killed during the October 7 attacks.

Sharabi's niece has previously spoken of how close the two families were.

'He did not know'

Or Levy, another of the hostages released Saturday, had suspected that his wife Einav had died but had not known for sure as he had no access to media during his time in captivity, his mother Geula Levy said.

Levy, 34, was attending the Nova music festival on October 7 when he was kidnapped. His wife Einav was killed in the attack.

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Following his release on Saturday, Levy's mother said he had asked about his wife while in Sheba Hospital, where he was reunited with family members.

"He did not know. He assumed, and asked, and we told him," Geula told Israel's public broadcaster Kann 11 News.

While in the hospital, Levy reunited with his son, Almog, who was only two-years-old when his father was taken hostage.

The father and son came together "as if nothing had happened," Geula said.

Levy's family issued a statement following his release, celebrating his return while also mourning the death of Einav.

"Her loss has left an enormous void in all our hearts," they said.

'Let's get it done'

Sharabi, Levy and Ohad Ben Ami's treatment in captivity, compounded by the realization they did not know of their loved ones' fate, has galvanised one family whose son was killed by Hamas last year to call on US President Donald Trump to speed up the hostage release process.

On Saturday, the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American murdered by Hamas militants in Gaza in August, urged Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to push for the release of all hostages held in Gaza "this week," dismissing the multi-staged approach to the ceasefire deal agreed by Israel and Hamas.

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"Our plea to you (Trump and Witkoff) right now is, now that you've done the hard part of getting movement, getting a deal started, let's not think about phase one and phase two and phase three and many months," Jon Goldberg-Polin said in the video.

"Let's think bigger and faster."

"All 76 hostages out this week. End of war. Who benefits from dragging it out for so long? Not the people of this region. Let's get it done right now," he said.

The scenes from Saturday's hostage handover have drawn condemnation from Israel, who called the men's appearances "shocking," with a group representing the families of hostages saying that it was "horrified by the visible physical and mental condition" of the men. Levy – who was released as he was considered a humanitarian case – appeared particularly frail.

Following their transfer, Hamas also released a highly produced propaganda video showing the three men together inside a tunnel, in a departure from previous hostage releases.

The three men were released in the fifth round of exchanges between Hamas and Israel.

Later on Saturday, Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners due to be freed in the deal, 18 of whom were serving life sentences.

A total of 33 Israeli hostages are expected to be released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which went into force on January 19 and is supposed to last six weeks.

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Following Saturday's exchange, Hamas and its allies still hold a total of 73 people taken from Israel on October 7, 2023, and an additional three held in Gaza since before then.

Negotiations on the second and third phases are not yet believed to have begun in earnest.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped at the same time as Levy.

Both had tried to hide in a bomb shelter before they were caught and taken to Gaza in the back of a pickup truck.

The Goldberg-Polins said their appeal was driven by seeing the condition of the three hostages released on Saturday, and "hearing that Or (Levy) had no idea what happened to Hersh, hearing that Eli (Sharabi) was unaware his daughters and wife had been murdered."

They said they remained close with Levy's family and that following his release one of Levy's first questions was how Hersh was doing, unaware that he'd been killed.

"He assumed that he had been released long ago," Rachel Goldberg-Polin said.

Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the six kilometre Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.

At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car.

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The withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.

However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce.

Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.

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Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.

The ceasefire is fragile and its extension is not guaranteed

Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility.

But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.

On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim.

Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”

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The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing.

Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.

During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza.

The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.”

But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.

The truce faces many challenges, including Trump's Gaza proposal

Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated.

Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.

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Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated.

He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.

Complicating things further is a proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory.

Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.

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The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles.

But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.

Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

Violence surges in the occupied West Bank

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count.

Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.

Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory.

The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago.

He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said an elevated US security partnership with South Korea and Japan poses a grave threat to his country and vowed to further bolster his nuclear weapons program, state media reported on Sunday.

Kim has previously made similar warnings, but his latest statement implies again that the North Korean leader won’t likely embrace President Donald Trump’s overture to meet him and revive diplomacy anytime soon.

In a speech marking the 77th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Saturday, Kim said the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral security partnership established under a US plot to form a NATO-like regional military bloc is inviting military imbalance on the Korean Peninsula and “raising a grave challenge to the security environment of our state,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

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“Referring to a series of new plans for rapidly bolstering all deterrence including nuclear forces, he clarified once again the unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” KCNA said.

Amid stalled diplomacy with the US and South Korea in recent years, Kim has focused on enlarging and modernising his arsenal of nuclear weapons.

In response, the United States and South Korea have expanded their bilateral military exercises and trilateral training involving Japan.

North Korea has lashed out at those drills, calling them rehearsals to invade the country.

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has said he would reach out to Kim again as he boasted of his high-stakes summit with him during his first term.

During a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, Trump said that “We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un. I got along with him very well, as you know. I think I stopped the war."

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During a Fox News interview broadcast on Jan. 23, Trump called Kim “a smart guy” and “not a religious zealot.”

Asked whether he will reach out to Kim again, Trump replied, “I will, yeah.”

Trump met Kim three times in 2018-19 to discuss how to end North Korea’s nuclear program in what was the first-ever summitry between the leaders of the US and North Korea.

The high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed because Trump rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a partial denuclearisation step, in return for broad sanctions relief.

North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump's recent overture, as it continues weapons testing activities and hostile rhetoric against the US.

Many experts say Kim is now preoccupied with his dispatch of troops to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine.

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They say Kim would still eventually consider returning to diplomacy with Trump if he determines he would fail to maintain the current solid cooperation with Russia after the war ends.

In his Saturday speech, Kim reaffirmed that North Korea “will invariably support and encourage the just cause of the Russian army and people to defend their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

Kim accused the US of being behind “the war machine which is stirring up the tragic situation of Ukraine.”

In South Korea, some worry that Trump might abandon the international community’s long-running goal of achieving a complete denuclearisation of North Korea to produce a diplomatic achievement.

But a joint statement issued by Trump and Ishiba after their summit stated the two leaders reaffirmed “their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the DPRK,” the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The statement said the US and Japan also affirmed the importance of the Japan-US-South Korean trilateral partnership in responding to North Korea.

Townsville has received almost an entire year's worth of rain in just over a week.

The flood-hit area was hit with its highest February rainfall total- 1033mm – in just the first week of this month.

As the clean-up from the record-breaking rain continues across North Queensland locals are getting in while they can, while being warned more could be on the way.

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The area continues to battle relentless rain and flooding, with more severe downpours expected.

Major flood warnings remain in effect for several catchments and rivers, with one river likely to reach major levels, potentially cutting off the Bruce Highway, near Ayr.

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Meanwhile in the rural town of Ingham, near Townsville, the scale of destruction is becoming clear.

A temporary bridge had to be built by the ADF after the community was inundated with water.

Streets are lined with stacks of what folks here couldn't save, from water-logged whitegoods to muddied mattresses.

Cleaning up is a slow and harrowing task.

While supplies are being flown in, to get freight to far flung communities cut off by flood water is a bigger challenge.

West of Ingham near Greenvale there's a b-double graveyard of trucks, which are stuck in limbo waiting for water to go down.

Hundreds of roads across the north remain cut off.

Heading west from Charters Towers is impossible if you don't have a chopper.

Driving east there's not a chance.

The temporary bridge at Ollera Creek shut overnight, before the build of a permanent more durable bridge gets underway.

While there's been a brief pause in the downpours, North Queenslanders' real chance to dry out could be days away.

More rain on way

Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury warned there was no relief in sight for parts of the state, as extensive rain and storms were forecast into Monday.

Herbert River, Haughton River, Cape River, Upper Burdekin and Lower Burdekin Rivers and Flinders River are facing major flooding.

The Cape River at Taemas is currently at 8.76m and continues to rise.

A severe weather warning remains in place for the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, as well as the Herbert and Lower Burdekin forecast districts.

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Heavy rainfall is expected between Tully and Ayr into the early part of the week.

"Heavy rainfall which may to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is forecast for parts of the Herbert and Lower Burdekin and the North Tropical Coast this weekend," Bureau of Meteorology said.

"The six-hourly rainfall totals between 120 to 180 mm are possible. Isolated 24-hourly rainfall totals up to 250mm are possible.

"Conditions are expected to temporarily ease from early this morning, with the potential for isolated heavy falls to return by this evening or early Monday morning.

"Heavy rainfall increases the potential for landslides and debris across roads."

The heaviest rainfall totals recorded include 274mm at Halifax, 236mm at Gairloch and 150mm at Ingham.

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State prepares for possible tropical cyclone

Communities in Western Australia remain on watch for a possible tropical cyclone, according to Bradbury.

"Tropical low 18U is not yet a tropical cyclone but may strengthen to tropical cyclone intensity in the next 24 hours. If and when it reaches tropical cyclone strength, the system would be called Tropical Cyclone Zelia," she said.

The tropical low is currently located near the Kimberley coast, with communities between Cockatoo Island, Bidjuanga and Broome all under a cyclone watch.

"In this watch area, we may see gales developing as early as Monday morning," Bradbury said.

"We're also likely to see rain increasing as well, likely from later on (today), with large waves also a risk as winds increase."

The tropical low could reach tropical cyclone intensity later today or tomorrow.

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