Six-year-old Hind Rajab pleaded to be rescued, after her family's car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza City, leaving her alone, frightened and wounded, surrounded by the bodies of her dead relatives.

"I am so scared," she had said in a desperate phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent. "Call someone to come get me, please."

But after more than two weeks of frantic efforts to reach her, Hind's body was recovered on Saturday, along with those of relatives and two Red Crescent rescue workers sent to find her.

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.

The army has hinted at what the new tech is being used for, with spokesman Daniel Hagari saying last month that Israel's forces were operating "above and underground simultaneously".

A senior defence official told AFP the tech was destroying enemy drones and mapping Hamas's vast tunnel network in Gaza.

A six-year-old Palestinian girl who went missing after the family's car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza was found dead Saturday, the health ministry and her relatives said, accusing Israel of killing her.

The last time Hind Rajab had been seen was about two weeks ago when she was surrounded by dead relatives after becoming trapped in the vehicle as they tried to flee Gaza City as Israeli forces advanced.

"Hind and everyone else in the car is martyred," the girl's grandfather, Baha Hamada told AFP.

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.

The comments made Thursday were the strongest by the US leader since Israel launched its barrage on Gaza following Hamas' October 7 attacks -- leaving the White House quietly scrambling to temper their effect.

The episode reflects the growing divide between the Democratic president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government which includes far-right ministers.

Meta on Friday confirmed it is assessing when the word "Zionist" should be deemed hate speech as online anti-Semitism escalates amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The tech titan behind Facebook and Instagram confirmed a Washington Post report that it is thinking of expanding its hate speech ban to include more uses of the term, particularly when it appears to be an ill-spirited substitute for "Jews" or "Israelis."

Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at an army position in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, hours after launching a salvo at northern Israel.

Friday's attack came as Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Beirut, and hours after Syria said it downed two drones near Damascus that it said entered its airspace from the Golan.

Hezbollah fighters targeted an Israeli army barracks "in the occupied Syrian Golan with dozens of Katyusha rockets", the group said in a statement.

French prosecutors have recommended that cement maker Lafarge stand trial on charges of terrorism financing over its past activities in Syria, a source close to the case told AFP Friday.

France's anti-terror prosecution unit (PNAT) wants to put the company and nine of its former managers in the dock, the source said.

Lafarge has since 2015 been part of Swiss building materials conglomerate Holcim.

Texas A&M is to close its Qatar campus, the US university said Friday, blaming Middle East insecurity for the move, which drew criticism from its partner in the Gulf emirate.

The university said it had "decided to reassess the university’s physical presence in Qatar in fall 2023 due to the heightened instability in the Middle East".

"The board has decided that the core mission of Texas A&M should be advanced primarily within Texas and the United States," chairman Bill Mahomes said in a statement.

Major Israeli military action on Rafah, in Gaza's far south, would heap further devastation on civilians, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week said he had ordered troops to prepare to go into the city as Israel hunts down those behind Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel.

But UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, under pressure after Israel alleged 12 of the agency's staff took part in the deadly assault, said the humanitarian situation in Rafah was increasingly desperate.

Israeli air strikes pummelled densely crowded Rafah on Saturday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his troops to "prepare to operate" in the southern border city that has become a last refuge for displaced Palestinians.

Netanyahu's planned offensive on Rafah, where an estimated 1.3 million people have fled, has drawn condemnation from rights groups and Washington, while Palestinians have said they have nowhere left to retreat.