Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian group would rise "like a phoenix" from the ashes despite heavy losses during a year of war with Israel, and that it continues to recruit fighters and manufacture weapons, Reuters reported.

One year after the Hamas attack that triggered the war, Meshaal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a broader narrative spanning 76 years, dating back to what Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe," when many were displaced during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

"Palestinian history is made of cycles," Meshaal, 68, a senior Hamas figure under overall leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters in an interview.

"We go through phases where we lose martyrs (victims) and we lose part of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix, thanks to God."

Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 after he was injected with poison and was overall Hamas leader from 1996-2017, said the Islamist militant group was still able to mount ambushes against Israeli troops.

"We lost part of our ammunition and weapons, but Hamas is still recruiting young men and continues to manufacture a significant portion of its ammunition and weapons," said Meshaal, without providing details.

Meshaal remains influential in Hamas because he has played a crucial role in its leadership for almost three decades, and is widely seen now as its diplomatic face. He is one of six Hamas leaders indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on terrorism charges over the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, read the report.

His comments appear intended as a signal that the group will fight on whatever its losses, Middle East analysts said.

"Overall I would say (Hamas is) alive and kicking still and ... will probably come back at some point in Gaza," said Joost R. Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Program Director of the International Crisis Group.

He said Israel had not spelled out a plan for Gaza when the war ends, and this could allow Hamas to re-establish itself although perhaps not with such strength or in the same form.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined comment on Meshaal's remarks.

Israel began its offensive against Hamas after about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 last year, according to Israeli tallies.

Much of Gaza has been laid to waste and about 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israel says Hamas no longer exists as an organised military structure and has been reduced to guerrilla tactics. At least a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza, around 17,000 people, are Hamas fighters, according to Israeli officials. About 350 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza.

Meshaal said he saw no prospects for peace while Netanyahu's government is in power. Israel blames Hamas, whose founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, for the failure to secure peace.

"As long as the (Israeli) occupation exists, the region remains a ticking time bomb," Meshaal said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will speed up steps toward becoming a military superpower with nuclear weapons and would not rule out using them if it came under enemy attack, state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday.

Kim mentioned South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol by name for the second time in a week in denouncing Seoul for colluding with Washington to destabilize the region to gloss over the fact it does not even have proper strategic weapons, Reuters reported.

"Yoon Suk Yeol made some tasteless and vulgar comment about the end of the Republic in his speech, and it shows he is totally consumed by his blind faith in his master's strength," KCNA quoted Kim as saying, referring to the South's alliance with the U.S.

"To be honest, we have absolutely no intention of attacking South Korea," he said in the speech at the Kim Jong Un National Defense University, a training ground for elite military specialists. "Every time I stated our position on the use of military force, I clearly and consistently used the qualification 'if.'"

"If the enemies try to use force against our country, the Republic's military will use all offensive power without hesitation. This does not preclude the use of nuclear weapons."

"Our footsteps towards becoming a military superpower and a nuclear power will accelerate," he added.

North Korea has for decades pursued a nuclear weapons programme and is believed to have enough fissile materials to build dozens of the weapons. It has conducted six underground nuclear detonation tests, read the report.

Last week, South Korea marked an annual armed forces day with a large military parade showcasing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a massive warhead and featuring a flypast of a U.S. strategic bomber.

In his address that day, Yoon warned the North against using nuclear weapons. "That day will see the end of the North Korean regime."

KCNA said Kim made the remarks on Monday, the same day the North has said its Supreme People's Assembly would meet to discuss amending the country's constitution. The news agency has made no mention of the assembly's deliberations since Monday.

The session is being closely watched because of the likelihood it would approve a constitutional amendment to reflect Kim's statement that unification is no longer possible and the South was a separate country and "a principal enemy."

Such a move would formalise Kim's break with decades-old goal espoused by both countries of national unification and attempts to improve ties, including a 2018 summit where their leaders declared there will be no more war and a new era of peace has opened.

In a separate report, KCNA said Kim sent a birthday message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him his "closest Comrade and saying "strategic and cooperative relations" between the two countries will be raised to a new level, Reuters reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, his office said, and told him that placing restrictions on Israel will just serve Iran and its proxies, Reuters reported.

Macron said on Saturday that shipments of arms to Israel used in the war in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution to the conflict.

"Just as Iran supports all parts of the Iranian terror axis, so are Israel's friends expected to support it, and not impose restrictions that will only strengthen the Iranian axis of evil," Netanyahu told Macron, according to a statement from his office.

Israel has sharply escalated its attacks on Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in recent weeks, following a year of lower level cross-border conflict waged in parallel with Israel's war against Palestinian militants Hamas, also backed by Iran, after the Oct. 7 attacks last year, read the report.

The Israeli government says it aims to allow Israelis to return to their homes in northern Israel, after being evacuated amid Hezbollah rocket attacks that began on Oct. 8 last year.

"The prime minister emphasized that Israel's actions against Hezbollah create an opportunity to change reality in Lebanon to better stability, security and peace in the entire region," the statement said.

The two leaders agreed to maintain a dialogue on the matter during the French foreign minister's visit to Israel on Monday, Netanyahu's office said.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot is on a four-day trip to the Middle East. Paris is seeking to play a role in reviving diplomatic efforts as the Gaza war has widened to Lebanon, Reuters reported.

Macron told France Inter radio on Saturday that the priority was "to get back to a political solution (and) that arms used to fight in Gaza are halted. France doesn't ship any".

"Our priority now is to avoid escalation. The Lebanese people must not in turn be sacrificed, Lebanon cannot become another Gaza," he added.

France is not a major weapons provider for Israel, shipping military equipment worth 30 million euros ($33 million) last year, according to the Defence Ministry's annual arms exports report.