Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party

The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed.

That was ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including President Emmanuel Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5%-23%. The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed.

The exit polls were in line with opinion polls ahead of the election, but provided little clarity on whether the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN will be able to form a government to "cohabit" with the pro-EU Macron after next Sunday's run-off.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his appeal for more long-range weapons and air defences after a missile attack killed seven people including two children.

The Russian attack on the town of Vilniansk, near the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, also injured 31 others, Ukrainian officials said.

In total, at least 11 civilians were killed and a further 37 wounded in missile attacks across Ukraine on Saturday, Reuters reported.

"Our cities and communities suffer daily from such Russian strikes," Mr Zelensky wrote in a post on Telegram.

But he added that there were "ways to overcome this", including "destroying Russian missile launchers, striking with real long-range capability and increasing the number of modern air defence systems".

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the new Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood forced the displacement of “at least 60,000” residents, while Israel’s military operations in the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza resulted in 5,000 people displaced and many casualties.

Six people, including four children, have been killed and at least 15 others wounded in Israeli military strikes on residential homes in Gaza City overnight. Casualties were also reported in an attack on central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, Palestinian Wafa news reports.

A poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 shows that about two-thirds of Israelis believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not seek reelection and leave politics.

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The annual Muslim pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca that wrapped up last week became a death march for over 1,300 Hajj participants who died in temperatures that climbed above 124 degrees.

Saudi Arabia's health minister Fahad Al-Jalajel, who on Sunday announced a death total of 1,301, blamed the fatalities on pilgrims "walking long distances under direct sunlight without adequate shelter or comfort."

The 5-6 day odyssey of hiking and prayer drew almost 2 million pilgrims from around the world. Fatalities included a number of elderly people and those suffering from chronic diseases, A-Jalajel said. About  83% of the fatalities were among people who were not authorized to make the pilgrimage, he said.

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