Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel will take control of "overall security" of besieged Gaza after the war, as the Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll has surged past 10,000.
Resisting calls for a ceasefire, Netanyahu said there would be no letup in the war to destroy Hamas, whose October 7 attack left 1,400 dead in Israel, most of them civilians.
The Israeli army said Monday it had arrested the prominent 22-year-old Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi during a raid in the occupied West Bank.
"Ahed Tamimi was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence and terrorist activities in the town of Nabi Salih" near the city of Ramallah, an army spokesman told AFP.
"Tamimi was transferred to Israeli security forces for further questioning."
Israel pounded Gaza with "significant" strikes Monday as soldiers battled Hamas forces in the besieged territory, ignoring ceasefire calls by UN aid agencies who condemned surging civilian deaths in the month-long conflict.
Israeli troops and Hamas fighters engaged in house-to-house combat in densely populated Gaza, where the war has sent 1.5 million people fleeing to other parts of the territory in a desperate search for cover.
Nestled in the mountains of northern Lebanon, a museum dedicated to Kahlil Gibran in his hometown of Bsharre has been celebrating the centennial of "The Prophet", the renowned author's most famous work.
Since it was first published in the United States in 1923, millions of copies of "The Prophet" have been sold worldwide, with the book becoming a literary classic that has been translated into dozens of languages from the original English.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that Washington was working "very aggressively" to dramatically expand the amount of aid reaching trapped civilians in Gaza.
The top US diplomat held 2.5 hours of one-on-one talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan focused on soothing the anger at both Israel and the West of one of Washington's most strategic but difficult allies.
"Are there any survivors?" shouted Said al-Najma, as he tried to shift the blocks of concrete strewn across the road after another night of Israeli bombings that reduced houses to rubble.
Seven multi-storey buildings in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip were razed in the strikes on Saturday night, killing 45 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Among them are four of video-journalist Mohammed Alaloul's children, as well as four of his brothers, and several of his nieces and nephews.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday following a trip to the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani met Blinken, the premier's office said, with the two expected to discuss the risks of escalation in Israel's war with Hamas.
Blinken's visit -- which came after a brief stop in Cyprus to discuss a possible maritime aid route to Gaza -- was not announced in advance for security reasons.
Around the landmark mosque in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees, scenes of spiking violence in the occupied West Bank play out in rhythmic fashion.
Israeli forces make increasing raids, militants battle them in the streets, and posters of the dead are papered over pictures of previous "martyrs", as the tempo of a decades-old conflict is supercharged by the Israel-Hamas war.
"When there are funerals in the mosque, generally, sermons are given that talk about love, compassion and peace among people," Ismail Jaradat, imam of the prayer hall, told AFP.
Four relatives of a journalist were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese news agency said, adding that the journalist was also wounded.
The border area between the two countries has seen regular exchanges of fire, in particular between Iran-backed group Hezbollah and Israel, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7 attacks.
The National News Agency (NNA) said the four victims are the sister of radio correspondent Samir Ayoub and her three grandchildren, aged 10, 12 and 14.
Turkish police Sunday fired tear gas to disperse a pro-Palestinian rally staged outside a military base housing US forces just hours before the arrival in Ankara of Washington's top diplomat.
The protest outside the Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey was organised by the IHH humanitarian relief fund, which in 2010 led a flotilla to Gaza that sparked Israeli raids in which 10 civilians died.
An AFP photographer said the police intervened when the crowd began to walk toward the base after holding a peaceful rally in Incirlik.
