Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Sunday as both sides near the end of a dark year and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack will last for "many months".

At least 48 Palestinians were killed in overnight bombing in Gaza City, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said, with many still buried under the rubble.

"After the explosion we arrived at the scene of the strike and saw martyrs everywhere," said one resident after a building was hit. "Children are still missing, we can't find them."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel displayed unparalleled "morality" in the Gaza war and rejected South Africa's charge that it was committing "genocidal" acts in the Palestinian territory.

"We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv.

His comment came after South Africa launched a case on Friday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for what it said were "genocidal" acts in Gaza.

Israelis and Palestinians end a dark year on Sunday, with no end in sight to the deadliest military offensive on Gaza, triggered by Hamas' bloodiest attack on Israel.

There has been no respite from Israel's air raids, artillery fire or ground fighting with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to the despair of Palestinians surviving the onslaught.

"We were hoping that 2024 would arrive under better auspices and that we would be able to celebrate the new year at home with our families," said Mahmoud Abou Shahma in a camp for displaced people in Rafah, on the Egyptian border.

Fireworks lit up skies across the world as crowds gathered to welcome 2024, but airstrikes marred the year's earliest hours in Gaza, Israel and Ukraine, while a powerful earthquake triggered tsunami warnings in Japan.

Many around the world are hoping to shake off surging living costs, global tumult and extreme weather in the coming year, which heralds elections for half the planet's population of more than eight billion.

Yet with the new year barely started there were already ominous signs.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday brushed off criticism after the Turkish Super Cup final between two Istanbul giants was postponed following a row with its Saudi hosts.

Friday night's Turkish Super Cup between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce had been due to be played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

But it was postponed before kickoff after Saudi organisers refused to allow players to wear jerseys bearing political slogans.

For decades, Tele Liban has been a mainstay of Lebanese living rooms. Now the country is seeking UNESCO recognition for the archives of its pioneering Arab broadcaster.

Lebanon's Information Minister Ziad Makary told AFP that Beirut would apply to have the full archives of Tele Liban added to the UN cultural body's Memory of the World Register, which UNESCO says "aims to prevent the irrevocable loss of documentary heritage".

Fighting raged Saturday across Gaza, where displaced Palestinians said they were "exhausted" with no end in sight to the war between the besieged territory's Hamas rulers and Israel, now in its 13th week.

Smoke billowed over the Gaza Strip's southern city of Khan Yunis, the focus of recent fighting in the grinding war, which was triggered by Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.

Further south, the border city of Rafah near Egypt was teeming with Gazans seeking safety from Israel's relentless bombardment in its fight against Palestinian militants.

The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $147.5 million sale of 155mm high-explosive artillery munitions and related equipment to Israel under an emergency provision that waives the usual congressional review.

The same provision was used earlier this month to approve the sale of nearly 14,000 rounds of 120mm tank ammunition to Israel, which is battling Hamas in Gaza in a highly destructive conflict that began with a shock attack by the Palestinian militants in October.

Israel again pounded Gaza on Friday, nearly 12 weeks into the war that has devastated much of the besieged Palestinian territory and forced many hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

As a Hamas delegation visited Cairo to discuss an Egyptian plan to end the fighting, UN chief Antonio Guterres reiterated his call for "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the bloodiest ever Gaza war triggered by the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militants.

South Africa launched a case on Friday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for what it said were "genocidal" acts in Gaza, with Israel rejecting the case "with disgust."

According to a statement, the ICJ application related to alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention, and said that "Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza."