Himalayan snowstorm kill 17 trekkers in Nepal

KATHMANDU: A snowstorm and avalanche in Nepal's Himalayas has killed 17 trekkers and guides — nine foreigners and eight Nepalis — on a popular hiking route, while more than 100 others remain out of contact, officials said Wednesday.

Severe weather triggered by the tail end of Cyclone Hudhud, which battered neighbouring India's east coast, hit trekking groups on the Annapurna circuit as well as mountaineers trying to scale the avalanche-prone Mount Dhaulagiri in central Nepal on Tuesday.

As the weather cleared on Wednesday in the remote Mustang and Manang districts, rescuers trudging through waist-deep snow found 27 stranded trekkers, an official said.

But some 168 foreign tourists were registered to hike in the districts and authorities are now trying to track the rest of them down, said police official Ganesh Rai who is heading the rescue effort.

Two Slovakian mountaineers and three Nepalese guides went missing after an avalanche struck teams stationed at the base camp of 8,167-metre (26,795 foot) Mount Dhaulagiri on Tuesday night.

"Two Slovakian climbers and three Nepalese guides are missing at Dhaulagiri base camp after an avalanche, they were here to scale the mountain," local official Tulsiram Bhandari told AFP from Myagdi district.

In neighbouring Mustang, rescuers conducting helicopter sorties found twelve bodies, -- two Israelis, a Pole, a Vietnamese and eight Nepalese trekkers and guides -- blanketed by thick snow.

"There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet (91 centimetres)," said police official Rai.

"We have found twelve bodies in Mustang, including four foreigners -- two from Israel, one from Poland and one from Vietnam," Rai told AFP, correcting his earlier information that two of those killed were Polish.

Rescuers, aided by a Nepal army helicopter and several others hired by trekking agencies, also found the bodies of five hikers caught in an avalanche in neighbouring Manang.

"A chopper search has located the bodies of five people, including four Canadians and an Indian, killed in an avalanche," Rai said.

In a separate incident in Manang, three yak herders were killed in another avalanche on Tuesday while grazing their animals, district official Devendra Lamichanne told AFP.

Another official said he hoped those trekkers still unaccounted for had simply been cut off by the blizzard and poor telecommunications.

"The phone network is not very good so we have not been able to get in touch with the missing, but we hope to find them later today," said Mustang district official Baburam Bhandari.

Injured victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment while a few with minor injuries were airlifted to Kathmandu. Details of those rescued, including their nationalities, were not known.

In a separate incident, rescuers are searching for a 67-year-old Frenchman who fell into a river on Tuesday while following the Manaslu trekking route, police said.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually favourable for hiking.

However, the region has seen unusually heavy snowfall this week as a result of Cyclone Hudhud.

The cyclone also sparked heavy downpours in other parts of central and western Nepal, including the hilly Gorkha district, where the French trekker slipped and fell into the Budhi Gandaki river.

"The accident happened around 9 am on Tuesday... we think it was because the track was slippery due to recent heavy rains. Rescue operations are ongoing," Gorkha police chief Ramesh Thapa told AFP.

The hiker was part of a team of 10 tourists heading up the scenic Manaslu route, named after Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth highest peak. It has been developed as an alternative to the crowded Annapurna circuit.

In April the deadliest disaster to hit Mount Everest killed 16 people and forced an unprecedented shutdown of the world's highest peak.

The avalanche that tore through a group of sherpas -- who were hauling gear up the mountain for their foreign clients before dawn -- saw scores of expeditions cancelled.

The effective closure of the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) mountain for the season dealt a huge blow to impoverished Nepal, which relies heavily on tourism revenues from climbing and trekking.

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Liberian healthcare workers call off Ebola strike

MONROVIA: Healthcare unions in Liberia called off a strike on Wednesday over pay and working conditions for medical staff tackling an epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus.

The strike, which began on Monday, garnered poor support and most hospitals and clinics in the West African country had been operating normally.

Liberia is the country hardest-hit by the outbreak of the viral haemorrhagic fever that has killed more than 4,400 people, mostly in three West African nations, including Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"We have called for the strike action to be called off on humanitarian grounds," said George Williams, secretary-general of the National Health Workers Association of Liberia.

"Our doors are open for negotiations at a later date...but as of now we call off the action based on numerous appeals from the Liberian people both home and the diaspora."

The outbreak has also reached Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the United States but outbreaks have been contained so far.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday the epidemic was continuing to spread in the three worst-hit nations and there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week by early December.

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Saudi sentences iconic Shia cleric to death

DUBAI: A well-known Shia cleric was sentenced to death Wednesday by a court in Saudi Arabia, sparking fears of renewed unrest from his supporters in the kingdom and neighboring Bahrain.

Sheik Nimr al-Nimr's case has been watched closely by minority Saudi Shiites in the eastern region of the majority Sunni kingdom. The 54-year-old cleric's case was seen as a barometer for Saudi Arabia's handling of Shia grievances over the past years.

His brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, announced the verdict on Twitter. He had told The Associated Press earlier Wednesday that he would be in the courtroom for the verdict. He could not be immediately reached again for comment.

The cleric had faced charges that also include disobeying the ruler, firing on security forces, sowing discord, undermining national unity and interfering in the affairs of a sisterly nation. A statement by the cleric's family described the verdict as discretionary, suggesting that what the court found al-Nimr guilty of could have been eligible for a lighter sentence.

The family said the verdict sets a "dangerous precedent for decades to come.''

Prosecutors asked for execution followed by crucifixion. In Saudi Arabia, most death sentences are carried out by beheading. Crucifixion in this context means the body and head would then be put on display as a warning to others.

Al-Nimr had not denied the political charges against him, but denied ever carrying weapons or calling for violence. He can appeal the sentence.

Public figure and renowned activist Jaafar al-Shayeb in eastern Saudi Arabia said the verdict appears to have been handed down for "sedition'' and "incitement'' of Shia protests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

"There's a big chance there will be a reaction,'' al-Shayeb said. "There could be protests, marches, statements of condemnation. ... The situation is tense.''

Bahraini authorities on Wednesday painted over pictures of al-Nimr that had been plastered on walls by Shia supporters there.

Al-Nimr was a key leader of Shia protests demanding equal rights in 2011. Protests are banned in Saudi Arabia, where many ultraconservatives view Shiites as heretics.

He also openly criticized the Sunni government of Bahrain's handling of Shia protests there. Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain's Sunni monarchy quell its Shia uprising in the tiny island nation.

Al-Nimr was arrested in July 2012 when he was shot by security forces in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Four security officers said he had weapons and fired on them first, prosecutors said.

Defense lawyers did not cross-examine security forces because they were not at the hearing they testified in. The lawyers said they were not told of the hearing.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 1,040 people were detained in Shia protests between February 2011 and August 2014. There are at least 280 still imprisoned.

"I think the message that Saudis are saying is — "We will arrest anybody. We don't care how high profile they are. ... nobody is above this. We don't have any tolerance. We don't have any flexibility,'' Human Rights Watch Middle East researcher Adam Coogle said.

Coogle said fears about Iran, the Middle East's dominant Shia power, also played into the trial. He said that Saudi authorities view what happened in Bahrain and the Eastern Province of the kingdom as "meddling'' by Iran.

"Talking up the Iranian threat is also an excuse to perpetuate systematic discrimination against Shia citizens,'' he said.

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Yemen rebels seize major Red Sea port city

SANAA: Yemeni rebels have seized a major port city to add to their fast-expanding territory, just hours after a new premier was named in a bid to resolve the political crisis.

The Huthi Shiite rebels met little resistance as they overran Hudeida late Monday, taking control of Yemen's second most important seaport, a security official said.

"Huthi militants are deployed across vital installations, including the airport and the port," the official said.

Military and rebel sources confirmed that Huthi militants were seen deployed across main roads in the city, which is home to more than two million people.

Witnesses and local sources said the militants had set up checkpoints at the city's main entrances, while a security guard was reported dead when the rebels seized a court building.

A local official said that the Huthis had captured an arms depot near Hudeida before they launched their offensive.

The takeover came just weeks after the rebels swept into the capital Sanaa, 226 kilometres (140 miles) to the east.

The impoverished country has been wracked by political turmoil and sporadic violence since an uprising toppled strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012.

Rebels and militants have been battling to exploit a power vacuum in Yemen, which is located next to oil-rich Saudi Arabia and key shipping routes in the Gulf of Aden.

The rebels, who are traditionally based in the north, have been battling troops in recent months as part of their bid to spread their control across the country.

Huthi militiamen stormed into Sanaa on September 21, easily seizing key government installations, and they now man checkpoints and run patrols across the capital in almost total absence of the security forces.

Military sources had previously warned that the rebels were looking to take control of Hudeida and to extend their presence to the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, which leads to the Suez canal.

Bab al-Mandeb, a chokepoint whose Arabian shores are only 40 kilometres (25 miles) across the water from Africa, carried an estimated 3.4 million barrels of oil a day in 2011, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

In the east of the country, the Huthis are apparently eyeing Yemen's oil and gas reserves in Marib.

The rebels, who are also known as Ansarullah and have fought the central government for more than a decade, had recently deployed thousands of armed men in Hudeida in preparation for its takeover.

The Huthis, who have long complained of marginalisation by Sanaa, are concentrated in the mostly Shiite northern highlands in otherwise Sunni-majority Yemen.

Hadi on Monday named an envoy to the UN, Khalid Bahah, as the new premier, after the rebels rejected an earlier choice.

Bahah's nomination appeared to have the support of the rebels, and the appointment of a neutral prime minister was seen as a key step in persuading them to withdraw from Sanaa.

The rebels appear influenced by Lebanon's powerful Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran, and their advance has raised fears of further instability in an already volatile region.

The Sunni-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council warned on October 1 that it "will not stand idly by in the face of factional foreign intervention," in reference to Iran's alleged backing for the Huthis.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda, which has claimed a string of attacks in the country, including a suicide bombing targeting Huthi supporters in the capital last week that left 47 people dead.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), seen by the United States as the network's deadliest branch, also said it was behind an attack that killed 20 soldiers in southeastern Hadramawt province on the same day.

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Pistorius being portrayed as 'victim': Prosecutor

PRETORIA: Oscar Pistorius was being portrayed as a "poor victim" ahead of his sentencing for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, the chief prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel was cross-examining Pistorius' agent, Peet van Zyl, on the second day of a sentencing hearing in South Africa for the double-amputee Olympic runner who was found guilty last month of culpable homicide by Judge Thokozile Masipa.

The judge has wide latitude when deciding on a sentence. Pistorius, 27, could receive a fine and a suspended jail sentence or as many as 15 years in prison.

Van Zyl was called to testify by Pistorius' defense lawyers, who are arguing that Masipa should be lenient on the multiple Paralympic champion, who they say has suffered emotionally and financially after the shooting. Van Zyl testified Monday regarding what he called Pistorius' extensive charity work before the Feb. 14, 2013 shooting death of Steenkamp and said that Pistorius had now lost all his product endorsements because of the killing.

Cross-examining van Zyl, Nel said "You view Mr Pistorius as a poor victim of this case."

Van Zyl denied that.

Nel also questioned Pistorius' motives for getting involved in charity work, saying it was a smart career move for athletes to lend their names to good causes and that he was obligated to participate in such activities for their sponsors.

"They market themselves by being involved in charity," Nel said. "It's merely an advancement of your career to become involved."

Van Zyl said it could be perceived that way, but added: "I think that a lot of sportsmen really want to make a difference and to contribute."

Nel challenged van Zyl after he said "maybe there would still have been some opportunities" for Pistorius were it not for alleged inaccuracies in media reporting on the case. Van Zyl said that, since the killing, he had received some invitations asking Pistorius to address audiences and share his life story.

"The legacy that he's left behind is still relevant today," he said.

The prosecutor appeared incredulous at van Zyl's remarks, suggesting Pistorius' manager was blaming the media and others, including prosecutors, for the predicament of a man who had killed a young woman by firing four hollow-point bullets through a toilet door. Masipa found Pistorius not guilty of premeditated murder and of murder for shooting Steenkamp through a toilet cubicle door in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day 2013. He testified he mistook her for an intruder about to attack him and denied prosecution assertions that he shot her during an argument.

Pistorius' sentencing hearing is expected to last around a week.

Defense lawyers have also called a social worker, who testified that correctional supervision for three years with periods of house arrest would be a suitable sentence for Pistorius. Prosecutors have insisted he should go to prison for killing Steenkamp.

Pistorius in 2012 became the first amputee to run at the Olympics.

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Turkish jets hit Kurdish rebel targets

ANKARA: Turkish warplanes have struck suspected Kurdish rebel positions in southeastern Turkey, media reports said Tuesday, the first major airstrikes against the rebel group since peace talks began two years ago to end a 30-year insurgency.

Turkish media had varying accounts, but the private Dogan news agency said Turkish F-16 jets hit Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, targets in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq on Monday. A military statement said the armed forces had responded "in the strongest way" to shelling of a military outpost by the rebels, without specifying that airstrikes were launched.

Firat news agency, which is close to the PKK, confirmed the airstrikes, saying at least five locations around Hakkari were targeted. The agency had a different version of events, however, saying that the military had attacked rebel fighters in the region with artillery for three days, forcing the PKK to retaliate by firing at a military unit.

The attack comes amid heightened tensions in Turkey over Islamic State militants' advance on the Syrian town of Kobani. Kurds in Turkey accuse the government of standing idly by while Syrian Kurds are being slaughtered in the besieged town across the border.

The return to violence between Turkey and the PKK illustrates the complicated position Turkey faces as it negotiates its role with the U.S. and NATO allies in the anti-Islamic State coalition. The PKK is an important force on the ground in both Iraq and Syria fighting the Islamic State group. But Turkey still views it as a dangerous terrorist adversary.

Kurdish leaders, including jailed PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, have warned that the fall of Kobani will end the peace process, while PKK commander Cemal Bayik has been quoted in Turkish media as saying that some fighters who had withdrawn from Turkish territory as part of the peace efforts have now returned to Turkey.

More than 30 people were killed last week as Kurds, angered at what they said was Turkish impediment to efforts to defend Kobani, clashed with police and supporters of an Islamist group in cities across Turkey. At least two police officers were among the dead, according to Turkish authorities.

Turkey has said it won't join the fight against the Islamic State militants unless the U.S.-led coalition also targets Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The PKK has fought Turkey for autonomy for Kurds in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.

Kurds, who make up an estimated 20 percent of Turkey's 75 million people, have faced decades of discrimination, including restrictions on the use of their language.

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Taliban ambush in Afghan north, bombs in capital and elsewhere kill 25

KABUL: Taliban insurgents ambushed a convoy of Afghan security forces in a mountainous northern area on Monday, killing 22 soldiers and police, an official said, as bombs in Kabul and another area killed three.

The violence comes as the Taliban and their militant allies step up attacks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops at the end of the year, seeking to weaken the new Afghan government that will take over most of the fight.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, attacked from the mountains as the convoy was travelling through Laghman Valley in Sar-e-Pul province, Gov. Abdul Jabar Haqbeen said.

Eight security forces were wounded and seven were taken captive.

"Twelve army and police vehicles are totally destroyed," Haqbeen said.

A suicide car bomber rammed a NATO military convoy along a major road out of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, early on Monday, killing one Afghan civilian, authorities said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jalalabad Road, a main thoroughfare with a U.S. military base and a housing compound for U.N. and other international contractors and aid workers.

At least three foreigners were wounded in the blast targeting their armoured vehicles, but their identities were not known, police said.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said a patrol was attacked but there were no fatalities among the international force. The force does not confirm injuries.

The bomber in a Toyota Corolla car drove into the convoy just before 7 a.m. (0230 GMT), said Farid Afzali, head of Kabul's police investigation department.

"As a result of the blast, one of our countrymen was killed and three foreigners slightly wounded," Afzali said.

Reuters television footage showed the remains of one of the white armoured vehicles, its engine blackened and mangled and side door damaged.

It was the second car-bomb attack on international forces in Kabul in a month.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid said on Twitter that the target was a foreign military convoy and several troops were killed. The insurgents, who are fighting to expel foreign forces and re-establish their strict Islamist state driven from power in 2001, often exaggerate the results of their attacks.

In the eastern province of Nangarhar, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in front of a clinic killing two people and wounding seven, the Ministry of Defence said.

A bomb planted in a crowded market in the Qarabagh district of Kabul wounded 22 civilians and five of them were in critical condition. Four children were among wounded, said district governor Samih Sharifi.

The Taliban took advantage of weeks of political paralysis over a disputed election to regain territory in provinces such as Helmand in the south and Kunduz in the north.

President Ashraf Ghani appealed in his inauguration address late last month for the militants to join peace talks but they denounced his government for signing a security pact with the United States, calling it a "sinister" US plot to control Afghanistan.

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Psychologist says Oscar Pistorius is a 'broken man'

PRETORIA, South Africa: Oscar Pistorius is a "broken man" after killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp because he lost her, his reputation, friends, income and sense of self-worth, a psychologist called by the Olympic runner's lawyers testified Monday.

READ ALSO: Oscar Pistorius back in court for pre-sentencing arguments

Dr. Lore Hartzenberg gave the testimony ahead of Pistorius' sentencing for culpable homicide, and it was almost immediately characterized by the chief prosecutor as unbalanced.

A sentence for culpable homicide can range from a suspended sentence and a fine to as many as 15 years in prison. Judge Thokozile Masipa last month found Pistorius not guilty of both premeditated murder and murder in his killing of Steenkamp in the predawn hours of Valentine's Day at his home last year.

Several police officers stood guard on the dais where the judge sat amid concerns about her security. Masipa drew criticism from some South Africans who thought Pistorius could at least have been convicted of a lesser murder charge on the grounds that he knew a person could die when he fired four bullets through a toilet door and into a small cubicle, killing Steenkamp.

READ ALSO: Oscar Pistorius verdict hangs on 'possible improbabilities'

Prosecutors said Pistorius had opened fire in anger after the couple argued. The runner testified that he mistook Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and budding reality TV star, for an intruder who was about to come out of the toilet and attack him.

Olympic and paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius arrives at the North Gauteng high court in Pretoria (Reuters photo)

Hartzenberg said the double-amputee runner had sometimes cried, retched, perspired and paced up and down during sessions in which she tried to assist him.

"Some of the sessions were just him weeping and crying and me holding him," Hartzenberg said. She testified she had been counselling a grief-stricken Pistorius since soon after the Feb. 14, 2013 killing of Steenkamp.

The testimony was part of an effort by the runner's legal team to persuade Masipa that Pistorius has suffered emotionally and materially and that he is remorseful. The team hopes the judge will be lenient when she sentences Pistorius, once a celebrated athlete who ran in the 2012 Olympics, after what is expected to be a week of legal argument and testimony.

READ ALSO: Oscar Pistorius not guilty of premeditated murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

"We are left with a broken man who has lost everything," Hartzenberg said during her testimony.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel criticized her findings, saying Pistorius would likely still have the chance to rebuild his life and possibly continue his career.

"We are now dealing with a broken man, but he is still alive," the prosecutor said. He later questioned the psychologist about what she knew about Steenkamp, noting her life was over.

"Do you know anything about her dreams, what she wanted to do in life?" Nel said.

Joel Maringa, a social worker in South Africa's correctional services, suggested that Pistorius be placed under correctional supervision, which would include periods of house arrest, for three years and that he perform 16 hours of community service a month during that time. Such correctional supervision would allow Pistorius to train and attend athletics meetings again, Maringa said.

Nel said such a sentence would be "shockingly inappropriate" and described it as "no sentence."

Maringa, who was also called to testify by the defense, listed Pistorius' involvement in international sporting bodies as well as charity projects and predicted that the athlete's behavior could be "successfully modified within the community context."

Earlier, Hartzenberg, who described herself as an expert in trauma counseling, said she first met with Pistorius on Feb. 25 last year, 11 days after the shooting death of Steenkamp, and had been counselling him since then.

She said the shooting and Pistorius' lengthy and high-profile murder trial meant the athlete had also suffered severe loss. He had lost Steenkamp, his "moral and professional reputation," many of his friends, his career and his financial independence, she said.

Nel asked the psychologist about Steenkamp's family.

"Would you not expect a broken family?" Nel asked, saying Steenkamp's father Barry had suffered a stroke as a result of the killing of his daughter, and Steenkamp's mother had collapsed when she learned of her daughter's death.

Nel said Pistorius also had the opportunity to return to his life and his track career. Nel, who sometimes questioned Hartzenberg sternly, also raised an incident during the trial when Pistorius was involved in an altercation at a Johannesburg nightclub, questioning whether it matched her description of a grieving man who had withdrawn from society.

Defense lawyer Barry Roux said he would likely call four witnesses during the sentencing hearing. Nel said the state would call at least two, with the hearing expected to last a week.

There is no minimum sentence in South Africa for culpable homicide or negligent killing, although some experts say a five-year jail sentence is a guideline when a firearm is used.

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Iran must withdraw 'occupying' forces from Syria: Saudi

JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia): Iran must withdraw its "occupying" forces from Syria to help resolve that country's conflict, Saudi foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal said on Monday after talks with his German counterpart.

"Our reservations are about Iran's policy in the region, not about Iran as a country or people," the foreign minister said at a joint press conference in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"In many conflicts, Iran is part of the problem, not the solution," Prince Saud said, charging that Shia-dominated Iran had forces in Syria "fighting Syrians."

"In this case, we can say that Iranian forces in Syria are occupying forces," aiding President Bashar al-Assad, whom he described as an "illegitimate" leader.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf states support rebel groups which have been battling Assad since March 2011 in a war which has killed more than 180,000 people.

Assad receives financial and military aid from Iran, which denies having fighters on the ground.

He is also backed by fighters from Lebanon's pro-Iranian Shia movement Hezbollah, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"If Iran wants to be part of the solution in Syria, it has to pull its forces from Syria. The same applies elsewhere, whether in Yemen or Iraq," the Saudi minister said.

Iran is accused of backing Shia rebels in Yemen, who overran the capital Sanaa on September 21.

And bonded by Shia Islam, Iran and Iraq have grown closer in the realms of government and security since the overthrow of Sunni leader Saddam Hussein in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Among the many groups fighting Assad is the Islamic State group of extremists, which Saudi Arabia and four other Arab states are now battling under a US-led coalition.

The Arab nations have taken part in or given support to coalition air strikes against the IS militants in Syria.

The Sunni extremist IS has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, declaring a "caliphate" where they have been accused of carrying out widespread atrocities, including mass executions, crucifixions and beheadings, and forcing women into slavery.

Such extremism "has nothing to do with Islam", Saudi King Abdullah said last week.

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John Kerry pushes for Middle East peace, pledges $212 million aid for Gaza

CAIRO: US secretary of state John Kerry called on Sunday for a renewed commitment to achieving Middle East peace, saying a lasting deal between Israel, the Palestinians and all their neighbors could be achieved.

But prospects for a renewed peace process appeared dim as Kerry offered no specifics on how to restart negotiations in his speech to a Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo.

The last round of US-brokered peace talks, presided over by Kerry, foundered in April over Israeli objections to a Palestinian political unity pact including the Islamist Hamas movement and Palestinian opposition to unremitting Israeli settlement expansion.

"Out of this conference must come not just money but a renewed commitment from everybody to work for peace that meets the aspirations of all, for Israelis, for Palestinians for all people of this region," Kerry told the conference.

"And I promise you the full commitment of president Obama, myself and the United States to try to do that," he said.

At the conference Kerry also announced an additional $212 million in US aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was badly damaged during a conflict with Israel in July and August in which 2,100 Palestinians died, most of them civilians.

An estimated 18,000 homes and vital infrastructure were destroyed in the seven-week war. The Palestinians have put the full cost of reconstruction at about $4 billion over three years.

Germany on Sunday also announced it would contribute 50 million euros ($63 million) to reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

"We can't allow the people in Gaza to sink into despair," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a statement.

The British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, told Reuters London would provide $32 million for reconstruction.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country and which brokered the current ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in August, used the conference to renew its call for a wider Middle East peace deal based on a 2002 Arab initiative, which Israel has rejected.

"We should turn this moment into a real starting point to achieve a peace that secures stability and flourishing and renders the dream of coexistence a reality, and this is the vision of the Arab peace initiative," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in his opening speech.

The Arab peace initiative was floated by Saudi Arabia at an Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002 and offers full recognition of the Jewish state, but only if it gives up all land seized in the 1967 Middle East war and agrees to a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.

Also speaking in Cairo, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said the 2002 Arab plan could be the framework for a new comprehensive approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Successive Israeli governments have rejected the Arab initiative but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently suggested a greater role for Israel's Arab neighbors in the pursuit of peace.

Dozens of countries are attending the Cairo meeting. The Palestinian Authority is hoping that moves by a new unity government towards assuming control in Hamas-dominated Gaza could make wealthy donor governments less wary of providing reconstruction funds.

Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

Palestinians want a state encompassing the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but has continued expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But the message at the conference was clear: nations want a comprehensive, lasting solution and do not want to keep meeting at donor conferences to pick up the pieces after fighting.

"Everything else will be a band aid fix, not a long-term solution... Everything else will be the prisoner of impatience and that has brought us to this unacceptable and unstable status quo," said Kerry.

The last war began in July with Israel saying it was determined to put an end to rocket fire from Gaza. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

The Palestinians have threatened to seek membership in the international criminal court as a forum to accuse Israel of war crimes.

Kerry plans to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo and will seek to dissuade him from very "destabilizing" diplomatic moves, one US official said.

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