Iraq on Monday held a state funeral for 41 Yazidis killed by the Islamic State group in 2014 and recently identified by authorities after complex and lengthy DNA tests.

After seizing swathes of Iraq in 2014, IS jihadists carried out horrific massacres, including in the northern region of Sinjar where the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority has long been rooted.

The group targeted the ethno-religious minority, systematically killing thousands of men and forcing women into sexual slavery.

Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday in Tehran for the funerals of Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria, in what Iran called an Israeli strike.

It was the latest incident adding to regional tensions and fears of wider conflagration during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The strike in Damascus on Saturday killed five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military force said. Iranian media later reported the victims included the group's intelligence chief for Syria, and his deputy.

Palestinians sheltered from intense fighting in southern Gaza where communications were cut again on Monday, as pressure mounted on Israel for a solution involving long-sought Palestinian statehood.

Mahdi Antar, 21, sought refuge at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza's main southern city which has become the epicentre of the war between Hamas militants and Israeli soldiers now in its fourth month.

"The situation is terrifying. Tonight and today are very difficult, bombing and shooting. I do not know what to do," he said.

EU foreign ministers on Monday pressed Israel on an eventual two-state solution with the Palestinians after the war in Gaza, at meetings with the top diplomats from the two sides and key Arab states in Brussels.

The surprise Hamas attack on October 7 on Israel and the subsequent devastating military response from Israel has plunged the Middle East into fresh turmoil and sparked fears of a broader conflict.

On a French warship off the Egyptian coast, wounded Palestinians receive the healthcare that has become largely unobtainable in the besieged Gaza Strip after months of war.

Sitting in a wheelchair, Abdulrahman Iyad wrings his hands in his lap, resting them gently near pins protruding from his thighs.

He scrolls through his phone, looking at photos of his family, all killed in the blast that tore his own face apart.

An Israeli strike Sunday on south Lebanon killed a Hezbollah fighter, a source close to the group told AFP, with a security official saying the target was a high-level commander who survived.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel's army and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an ally of Gaza-based Hamas.

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday defended its October 7 attacks against Israel but admitted to "faults" and called for an end to "Israeli aggression" in Gaza, where the health ministry said the death toll passed 25,000.

Southern Gaza is the latest focus of Israel's battle to destroy the Islamist group responsible for the deadliest attack in the country's history.

Khaled Ibrahim dreams of a home on the outskirts of Samarra, but a concrete wall built to protect the Iraqi city is stopping him and hampering sorely-needed urban expansion.

Built more than a decade ago at the height of Iraq's civil war which tore apart the multi-faith, multi-ethnic country, authorities say the wall must remain to prevent the threat of jihadist violence, even as security has gradually improved across the country.

Thousands of people demonstrated in central Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for the return of hostages held in Gaza and early elections to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Demonstrators marched through the city's Habima Square, a frequent protest site, with some carrying signs calling Netanyahu "the face of evil" and demanding "elections now".

Protesters demanding the return of hostages also gathered in Haifa and outside the premier's Jerusalem residence.

Iran on Saturday accused Israel of a strike in Damascus that killed five Revolutionary Guards members, and vowed to avenge the latest attack on the Islamic republic's personnel abroad.

President Ebrahim Raisi said Tehran would not let the "cowardly assassination" go unanswered.

Israel has been accused of intensifying strikes targeting senior Iranian and allied figures in Syria and Lebanon -- backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas -- raising fears that fighting in the Gaza Strip could spread further.