Israel has vowed to eliminate new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, with regional hostilities threatening to boil over as the Gaza war enters its 11th month.

The naming of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group came as Israel steeled itself for potential Iranian retaliation over the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.

Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "determined" to defend itself.

With much of Gaza reduced to rubble by 10 months of war, counting the dead has become a challenge for the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, as the death toll nears 40,000.

Israel has repeatedly questioned the credibility of the daily figures put out by the ministry and US President Joe Biden did so too in the early stages of the war.

But several United Nations agencies that operate in Gaza have said the figures are credible and they are frequently cited by international organisations.

- Data collection -

Sheltering under a palm tree in Saudi Arabia's capital, a Pakistani delivery driver stole a quick break during the lunch rush when orders -- and scorching temperatures -- are at their peak.

Gulping a bottle of cold water as the mercury neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the motorcycle driver said he was well aware the Gulf kingdom's harsh summer heat could be fatal.

Yet only by pushing through and filling the daily blitz of food orders will he earn enough money to send something back home, his main reason for coming to Saudi Arabia in the first place.

A Saudi Arabian woman appears to have been abducted from Australia and flown to the Gulf state, her lawyer has told AFP, saying she fears her client is in detention.

Lolita Safeeraldeen arrived in Australia in 2022 and stopped responding to messages in May 2023 while in Melbourne, said her human rights lawyer, Alison Battisson.

Battisson said she initially hoped her client was hiding elsewhere in Australia.

But a year later, she has been told Safeeraldeen is back in Saudi Arabia, raising concern that her client was removed from Australia against her will.

Both Iran and Israel should avoid escalating conflict, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, in his most direct wording toward US ally Israel on the Middle East's spiraling tensions.

"No one should escalate this conflict. We've been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel," Blinken told reporters.

Iran has vowed a response after Israel was suspected of killing Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate a US official in retaliation for the US killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Asif Raza Merchant, 46, allegedly sought to hire a hitman to assassinate a politician or a US government official in the United States, the department said in a statement.

After a career in the shadows, spent in Israeli prisons and the internal security apparatus of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar has emerged as leader of the Palestinian group in the middle of a full-blown war.

Sinwar, who until now was the movement's Gaza chief, replaces Ismail Haniyeh, whose killing in Tehran last week sent tensions soaring across the Middle East and raised fears of a coordinated attack on Israel by Iran and its regional proxies.

UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force's global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East.

Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.

An Iranian appeals court has halved the prison sentence handed down against pop star Shervin Hajipour, whose song became the anthem of nationwide protests in 2022, the judiciary said Tuesday.

Hajipour, 27, is known for his song "Baraye" which became popular during mass demonstrations triggered by the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, had been arrested for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Hamas on Tuesday named Yahya Sinwar, the man Israel says masterminded the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, as its new political chief following last week's killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh.

The announcement came with the Middle East on edge as it awaited Iran's retaliation over the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran.

Iran blames Haniyeh's death on Israel and has vowed to avenge him, while Hamas's Lebanese ally Hezbollah has also pledged to retaliate for his killing and that of its military commander Fuad Shukr in an Israeli strike in Beirut hours earlier.