ISRAEL

The heavy clashes came as a White House official was due in the region for talks aimed at securing more hostage releases, and as US media reported a new Israeli proposal for a deal that would involve a two-month pause in fighting.

Combat raged in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, against a backdrop of negotiations aimed at bringing about a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the absence of a long-term peace plan.

Israel says it still expects the war to continue for months but a US-Israeli divide over Gaza's post-war future has come into sharp focus after Washington again stressed creation of a Palestinian state as the only way to guarantee Israel's long-term security.

Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out more than three months ago, residents of southern Lebanon have been receiving strange phone calls from Lebanese numbers and from people speaking in Lebanese accents.

The rare military actions in the porous border region of Baluchistan -- shared between the two countries -- have further stoked regional tensions already enflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel bombarded southern Gaza on Friday after it publicly sparred with its main ally the United States over the possibility of a Palestinian state, the creation of which Washington sees as the only pathway to a lasting peace.

Israel will on Friday hit back at what it describes as "atrocious" allegations it is committing "genocide" in Gaza, in a closely watched landmark case before the UN's top court.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a New Year's message that some of the 300,000 army reservists would get a break from the war, in order to prepare for the "prolonged fighting" ahead.

The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review.

The Israeli embassy in South Korea has removed a video showing an imaginary scenario in which Koreans are attacked by masked assailants in Seoul, a reference to Hamas, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday.

Israeli forces pressed on with intensified attacks in the Gaza Strip's biggest southern city and a central refugee camp, after the territory's Hamas-run health ministry reported more than 21,000 people had been killed in 11 weeks of war.

Israel's army chief warned its war with Hamas will last "many more months" as the military stepped up strikes inside the Gaza Strip, where more than 20,000 people have already been reported killed.

In a falafel joint in south Lebanon, Hussein Murtada prepared flat-bread snacks for his few remaining customers as an Israeli surveillance drone buzzed above the border village of Kfar Kila.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to Gaza, as the world body warned the Israel-Hamas war was pushing the Palestinian territory towards famine.

Israel has ordered more evacuations in southern Gaza's main city as diplomats pressed on with efforts to secure a pause in the war that Hamas says has claimed 20,000 lives.

The UN Security Council on Thursday will try once again to pass a resolution calling for a halt in fighting between Israel and Hamas after previous efforts to win Washington's backing fell short.

The Qatar-based Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo for discussions on the "aggression in the Gaza Strip and other matters", the group said in a statement.

The administration of President Joe Biden has begun to publicly air its differences with the Israeli government over the conduct of the war in Gaza, expressing its exasperation even as it remains largely steady in its support.

Human Rights Day is observed on Dec. 10 every year to commemorate the adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, known as the first enunciation of human rights in the world.

Several Israeli soldiers were wounded when Hezbollah launched a drone attack from Lebanon on Sunday, both the Israeli army and the militant group said.

Traders with advance knowledge of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack profited by short-selling a major Israeli exchange-traded fund (ETF) days beforehand, a study shows.