US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, pushing a ceasefire plan that the UN Security Council later supported in an effort to halt eight months of war in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken met for around two hours in Jerusalem with Netanyahu and discussed diplomacy towards a ceasefire, US officials said, before the Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting the ceasefire plan.

Benny Gantz, who quit Israel's war cabinet Sunday, is a centrist politician with dreams of toppling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The former army chief and defence minister had little political experience when he launched the centre-right National Union Party in 2019 with the explicit goal of ousting Netanyahu from power.

Five years later, the silver-haired Gantz is looking to ride a wave of mounting public outrage over Netanyahu's failure to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip more than eight months after the war with Hamas broke out.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Sunday, heaping domestic pressure on the Israeli leader as the war in Gaza rages.

The former general and defence minister announced his resignation from the emergency body after failing to get a post-war plan for Gaza approved by Netanyahu, which he demanded in May.

A day after Israeli special forces rescued four hostages from Gaza, Palestinians recounted their panic during the intense gun battles and explosions that rocked the area and reduced buildings to rubble.

While Israelis have rejoiced at the safe return of the four captives, officials in Hamas-run Gaza decried a "massacre" in which they said 274 people were killed and 698 wounded in the crowded Nuseirat refugee camp.

The father of an Israeli hostage held in war-torn Gaza for eight months died just one day before his son was rescued in a special forces raid, relatives said Sunday.

Ever since Hamas's October 7 attack, Yossi Jan had desperately waited for news on his son Almog Meir Jan, 22, who was among those abducted from the Nova music festival.

"He was worried that he (Almog) was in the hands of murderers and about what was happening to him and what he was going through," the father's sister Dina told public broadcaster Kan.

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Sunday announced his resignation amid celebrations for the rescue of four hostages from war-torn Gaza in a raid that Palestinians say killed hundreds.

Gantz's resignation is the latest sign of sharpening domestic dissent over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the eight-month war, and is the first major political blow to him during the conflict.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said Sunday that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its latest offering, which was set to raise $11.2 billion.

The secondary offering was expected to provide a short-term boost to Saudi Arabia's finances as the Gulf kingdom builds large-scale projects including resorts and stadiums, part of a reform drive to prepare for an eventual post-oil future.

Israel announced its forces rescued four hostages on Saturday from a Gaza refugee camp in an operation which the Hamas-run government media office said left 210 Palestinians dead and hundreds wounded.

The Israeli military said the four, who were in "good medical condition", had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival during Hamas's October 7 attack that sparked war, now in its ninth month.

The same day, aid began trickling back into the devastated Gaza Strip via a rebuilt, temporary pier, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The United States has resumed aid deliveries to Gaza from a temporary pier, the country's military said Saturday, after the structure suffered storm damage and underwent repairs in a nearby port.

"Today at approximately 10:30 am (Gaza time) US Central Command (USCENTCOM) began delivery of humanitarian assistance ashore in Gaza. Today, a total of approximately 492 metric tons (~1.1 million pounds) of much needed humanitarian assistance was delivered to the people of Gaza," CENTCOM said on social media platform X.

Thousands of Gaza war protesters held a "red line" rally near the White House on Saturday, voicing anger at what they said is US President Joe Biden's tolerance of Israel's bloody military campaign against Hamas.

Chanting "From DC to Palestine, we are the red line," the demonstrators held a long banner scribbled with the names of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, as the fighting enters its ninth month.

Biden has faced criticism for playing a balancing act on key ally Israel's actions in the conflict.