Deadly fighting raged on in Gaza Monday after Israel warned that, unless Hamas frees all hostages, it will push on with its offensive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, including in the far-southern Rafah area.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Tuesday there were "too many victims" in Gaza, saying Israel's assault on the Palestinian territory following the unprecedented Hamas attacks was "disproportionate".

President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that a military operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza should not proceed unless a plan for "ensuring the safety" of the population was laid out first, the White House said.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that Israel's planned army operation in overcrowded Rafah would cause a "humanitarian catastrophe" and called for the United Nations Security Council to intervene.

Israel's army has deployed some AI-enabled military technology in combat for the first time in Gaza, raising fears about the use of autonomous weapons in modern warfare.

Joe Biden's tone on Israel has been hardening in recent days, but when he called the country's response in the Gaza Strip "over the top" this week, the US president crossed into new territory.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday to push for a ceasefire as the Gaza war enters its fifth month. Israel and Hamas have been weighing a proposal, brokered by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, that would be expected to temporarily halt the fighting and see…

Scores were reported killed in overnight strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, after Hamas said it needed more time to consider a proposal that would halt its war with Israel in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in intense political manoeuvring as pressure grows at home and abroad to release hostages held in Gaza and bring fighting to a halt.

Iran on Monday hanged four members of its Kurdish minority on charges of spying for Israel, defying a campaign for their lives to be spared by rights groups who had described their trial as grossly unfair.

The UN top court on Friday said Israel must prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and facilitate "urgently needed" humanitarian aid into the besieged territory, handing down rulings in a case that has drawn global attention.

An Israeli strike on Damascus killed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' spy chief for Syria and three other Guards members on Saturday, Iranian media said, in an attack that flattened a multi-storey residential building.