Thousands of tonnes of aid bound for Gaza remained on the Egyptian side of the border Thursday, after US President Joe Biden struck a deal with Egypt and Israel to allow relief in.

Biden said Wednesday that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had agreed to "let up to 20 trucks through to begin with" to the heavily-bombarded Gaza Strip, starting Friday, giving authorities time to repair roads.

US President Joe Biden will give a rare Oval Office speech Thursday to try to get Americans behind the defense of Israel and Ukraine as the crises facing Washington's allies pile up.

The 80-year-old, who is seeking a second term in 2024, will address the nation less than 24 hours after returning from a high-stakes solidarity trip to Israel after the deadly October 7 Hamas attack.

Liverpool and Egypt football star Mohamed Salah called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza on Wednesday as he pleaded for an end to "massacres" in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Gazans have been facing dire shortages as the territory was effectively sealed off in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli communities and military posts that claimed 1,400 lives.

On Tuesday, a deadly rocket strike hit a Gaza hospital that Hamas blamed on Israel.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it had "thwarted a terrorist cell" in Lebanon, accusing unidentified militants across the border of firing mortar shells at Israel while its war with Hamas raged.

The army said in a statement its forces had fired at the location in Lebanon from which "anti-tank missiles" were presumed to have been launched towards Israeli communities near the border.

Earlier on Wednesday, alerts were activated across northern Israel and the army said it had identified nine launches that crossed from Lebanese territory into Israel.

The conflict between Hamas and Israel is both an opportunity and a risk for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been mired in pressing his invasion of Ukraine for the past 19 months.

Here is an overview of five of Putin's objectives that are expected to shape his foreign policy:

- Divert attention from Ukraine -

The crisis in the Middle East has diverted international attention from Ukraine, which has battled to repel Russia's invasion for more than 600 days.

Israelis living in border communities near the Gaza Strip are bracing for a long and hard war with Hamas -- some heeding evacuation calls but others staying put.

"It's the devil that's attacking us," said Gil, a reservist stationed in southern Israel's Sderot, which after years of periodic rocket attacks from the besieged Palestinian territory has become accustomed to the warning blares of sirens.

"But this time it's different," he told AFP, asking that his full name not be used.

French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah has returned to France, her university said Wednesday, after being held for four-and-a-half years in Iran in a case that added to tensions between Paris and Tehran.

Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 and convicted on national security charges that her supporters have denounced as absurd.

She was released from prison in February but remained unable to leave Iran.

Egypt's president said Wednesday he would not allow any mass influx of refugees from Gaza, saying it would set a precedent for "the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan".

After talks with visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi blamed Israel's air strikes on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt for the failure to get aid to the territory's 2.4 million people.

"The displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt means the same displacement will take place for Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan," Sisi warned.

Thousands rallied across the Arab and Muslim world on Wednesday to protest the deaths of hundreds of people in a strike on a Gaza hospital that they blame on Israel, despite its denials.

Condemnation was widespread across the region and angry crowds gathered after calls from Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Palestinian factions for mass mobilisation.

"Death to America, death to Israel," hundreds of Hezbollah supporters chanted at a rally in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Palestinian protesters took to the streets in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, blaming Israel for a strike on a hospital in war-torn Gaza that killed hundreds.

Israel has denied blame and said the hospital was hit by an Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired.

Hundreds of protesters in Nablus, many draped in Palestinian flags and some holding Hamas banners, chanted slogans against Israel and its ally the United States.

"Free, free Palestine," chanted the protesters.