Iran held rallies in its major cities Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in neighbouring Iraq.

Demonstrators in Tehran chanted "Down with America" and "Down with Israel" as they held up photographs of the slain general.

Attending the rally at the capital's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla mosque, President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed to "neutralise the enemy's sinister schemes to create discord among Muslims."

The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that dozens of its troops were flown into Syria in September to destroy an underground missile factory funded by Iran.

The military, which rarely comments on its activities inside Syria, said in a statement that the September 8 raid involved more than 100 Israeli commandos who dismantled the facility in the Masyaf area near the Mediterranean coast.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported at the time that 27 people were killed in the raid. The Israeli military did not disclose any casualty figures.

Israel struck a declared humanitarian zone in southern Gaza overnight, which rescuers on Thursday said killed the head of the Palestinian territory's Hamas-run police force, his deputy and nine others.

Gaza's civil defence agency said two other Israeli strikes elsewhere in the territory later on Thursday killed 14 Palestinians.

The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the overnight strike on the area of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, which it said targeted deputy police chief Hussam Shahwan over his alleged role in planning attacks against Israeli troops.

Italy and Iran summoned each other's ambassadors on Thursday, clashing over the detention of an Italian journalist in Tehran two weeks ago, with Rome demanding she be immediately released.

Cecilia Sala, 29, was arrested on December 19, soon after the United States and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.

The journalist, who writes for the Italian daily Il Foglio and is the host of a news podcast produced by Chora media, has been kept in isolation since then.

Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will publish her autobiography and is working on a book on women held like her on political charges, she said in an interview published Thursday.

"I've finished my autobiography and I plan to publish it. I'm writing another book on assaults and sexual harassment against women detained in Iran. I hope it will appear soon," Mohammadi, 52, told French magazine Elle.

Israel struck a declared humanitarian zone in southern Gaza overnight, which rescuers on Thursday said killed the head of the territory's Hamas-run police force, his deputy and nine others.

Gaza's civil defence agency said two other Israeli strikes later on Thursday elsewhere in the territory killed 14 Palestinians.

The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the overnight strike on the area of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, which it said targeted deputy police chief Hussam Shahwan over his alleged role in planning attacks against Israeli troops.

Ministers from Syria's transitional government held talks in Saudi Arabia on Thursday on their first foreign visit since they toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last month.

"Through this first visit in the history of free Syria, we aspire to open a new, bright page in Syrian-Saudi relations that befits the long shared history between the two countries," interim Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shibani posted on social media after arriving in Riyadh late on Wednesday.

Israel's former defence minister Yoav Gallant, who was dismissed in November after spearheading the military campaign in Gaza for more than a year, announced Wednesday that he would resign from parliament.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sacked Gallant, saying there was a "breakdown in trust" amid disagreements between the two on several issues.

"I will submit my resignation to the speaker of the Knesset," Gallant said in a televised statement on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Authority has ordered the suspension of broadcasts by Al Jazeera in a move the Qatar-based television network condemned on Thursday as reminiscent of Israeli practices.

The German foreign ministry described the move as "deeply worrying" while the UN human rights office called on the PA to "reverse course and respect its international law obligations".

Al Jazeera is already banned from broadcasting from Israel amid a long-running feud with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

A few dozen protesters gathered in the Syrian city of Douma on Wednesday demanding answers about the fate of four prominent activists abducted more than a decade ago.

Holding up photographs of the missing activists, the demonstrators called on Syria's new rulers -- the Islamist-led rebels who seized power last month -- to investigate what happened to them.