Leaders of nations beset by climate disasters appealed Tuesday at the COP29 summit for greater urgency in fighting global warming, while others defended fossil fuels and their right to exploit them.

More than 75 leaders are expected to speak over two days in Baku, but the heads of many top polluting nations are giving the crunch UN climate talks in the Azerbaijan capital a miss.

The conference comes at the end of what scientists say is almost certainly the hottest year on record, with warming driven mainly by burning coal, oil and gas.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler on Monday called on Israel to respect Iran's sovereignty and refrain from attacking Iranian soil, highlighting warming ties between the Middle East rivals.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders that the international community should oblige Israel "to respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands".

Sunni Muslim-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran have often found themselves on opposing sides of regional conflicts including Syria's.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state as a "realistic" goal, after Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas reiterated his commitment to a "sovereign" country.

"I don't think this position is realistic today and we must be realistic," the newly appointed minister said in response to a question about the creation of a Palestinian state in exchange for a normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab countries.

Hezbollah said on Monday that the Israeli military has been incapable of occupying even a single village in Lebanon since launching cross-border ground operations six weeks ago.

Israeli troops on September 30 began what the military called "localised and targeted raids" against Hezbollah in Lebanon's southern border area, a week after escalating air strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

The Paris climate agreement's goals "are in great peril" and 2024 is on track to break new temperature records, the United Nations warned Monday as COP29 talks opened in Baku.

The period from 2015 to 2024 will also be the warmest decade ever recorded, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a new report based on six international datasets.

WMO chief Celeste Saulo said she was sounding the "red alert".

"It's another SOS for the planet," she told reporters in Baku.

Around 100 world leaders and heads of state are expected at COP29 UN climate summit in Baku on Tuesday and Wednesday amid warnings that 2024 is on track to beat temperature records.

But fewer top leaders are making the trip to the Azerbaijani capital than went to COP28 in Dubai and the one before in Glasgow in 2021.

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When war erupted in Gaza, Palestinian artists had only one way to share their work expressing the harrowing reality of the conflict: having it smuggled out of the besieged territory.

For six months, they handed over paintings and other artworks to people leaving Gaza through its Rafah border crossing with Egypt until Israeli ground forces closed it in May when they took control of the frontier.

"The paintings document the brutality of war and massacres... carrying pain and sorrow, but also embodying an unwavering resolve," said Mohammad Shaqdih.

Arab and Muslim leaders demanded on Monday that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories as a precondition for regional peace, while denouncing "shocking" Israeli crimes in war-ravaged Gaza.

A summit meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh gave the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's 57 nations a chance to speak with one voice on turmoil engulfing the region, more than a year into the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has urged fans to avoid Thursday's France-Israel football tie, which authorities fear could become a flashpoint following violence in Amsterdam surrounding a match involving an Israeli team.

Despite a large police presence and the expected attendance of French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli officials on Sunday warned fans to stay away because of fears they could be targeted.

A right-wing Jewish group has nevertheless announced a rally ahead of the Nations League tie.

The White House will spend its remaining $6 billion of Ukraine funding before Donald Trump's presidential inauguration in January, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday, warning of the global risks of ending US support for Kyiv.

Sullivan said President Joe Biden is expected to go over top foreign policy issues when he meets with President-elect Trump Wednesday in the Oval Office.