About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the besieged city of Sweida and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water.

The Israeli military has issued new evacuation warnings for central Gaza, an area where ground operations have been rare.

By Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire.

A U.S.-backed ceasefire appeared to be holding in Syria on Sunday, after deadly violence rocked the region, when hundreds of people were killed in the city of Suwayda. The violence marks the biggest challenge yet to the new government in Damascus that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.

The leaders of Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire days after major Israeli strikes​, a U.S. envoy said Friday, as he urged all sides in war-torn Syria to lay down arms.

Syria's Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions. Earlier on Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days.

Congo and Rwanda-backed rebels on Saturday signed a declaration of principles in Qatar to end decades-long fighting in eastern Congo that commits them to a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive peace agreement to be signed in one month.

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has urged Sunni Bedouin tribes to honor a ceasefire aimed at ending deadly clashes with Druze-linked militias

Abu Obeida says there will be no guarantee of a return to partial deals if Israel leaves the negotiating table again.

Interior minister says truce aims to pave way for prisoner exchange, restore stability as US envoy urges sustained calm in southern Syria - Anadolu Ajansı