(Reuters) -Officials from the party of Democratic Republic of Congo's former President Joseph Kabila appeared before a military prosecutor on Monday in a sign of political tensions over advances by Rwanda-backed rebels in the east.

The US was open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with the DRC, the State Department said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday, after a Congolese senator contacted US officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.

The M23 has continued to gain ground in eastern DR Congo and last month seized the region's second-biggest city, Bukavu. South Africa's deployment was heavily criticised by the public and opposition following the killing of its soldiers.

Gaza’s children were barred from schooling as schools in the Palestinian enclave were either destroyed or turned into shelters for displaced families. Since the Israel-Hamas war started, hundreds of thousands of school-aged children have lost at least one academic year.