Israel will push into Rafah in southern Gaza despite widespread concerns over the potential toll, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a television interview aired Sunday, vowing to provide "safe passage" for civilians out of the overcrowded city.

"Victory is within reach. We're going to do it. We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion," Netanyahu told ABC News, in an extract of the "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" interview released Saturday evening.

They are only teenagers, but a pair of New Jersey high school students -- one Jewish and one Muslim -- are tackling an issue much bigger than themselves, bridging divides in their suburb shaken by the Israel-Hamas war.

The effort originated soon after the October 7 attacks by Hamas and Israel's invasion of Gaza, when Rawda Elbatrawish, 17, took to Instagram to pitch an educational event.

"I was originally going to do a protest, but I decided to do a dialogue instead," recalled Elbatrawish, who is Muslim.

Israel's foreign minister called Saturday for the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to quit, following Israeli claims that a Hamas tunnel had been discovered under its evacuated Gaza City headquarters.

Israel Katz dismissed UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini's claim that he was unaware of its presence as "not only absurd but also an affront to common sense".

"His prompt resignation is imperative," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Hosts Qatar retained the Asian Cup with a 3-1 win on Saturday against surprise packages Jordan as Akram Afif scored a hat-trick of penalties.

It was a fitting final act to a month of football that began with 24 teams and witnessed a series of dramatic games and plenty of goals.

It will also help dispel the memories of Qatar's 2022 World Cup, when they lost all three games, the worst record of any host in the competition's history.

Iran's top diplomat warned on Saturday that a full-blown attack on Lebanon would "spell the end" of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu during a Beirut trip, as cross-border tensions surge over the Gaza war.

Israeli forces and Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah group, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily fire following the outbreak of war on October 7 between Israel and the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

A total of 17 Huthi fighters were killed in US strikes, the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group said through its official media Saturday, following public funerals in the capital Sanaa.

"The bodies of a number of martyrs of the nation and the armed and security forces who were martyred as a result of the bombing of the American-British aggression were carried through Sanaa today in a solemn funeral procession," Huthi official media said, listing their names.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon Saturday killed two civilians and a Hezbollah member, officials said, while security sources told AFP a senior Hamas officer had survived an assassination attempt south of Beirut.

An Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded nine others in the southern border village of Hula, Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) said.

Israeli forces and the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily fire since war broke out on October 7 between Israel and the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's Hamas rulers warned on Saturday that Israel's planned army operation in overcrowded Rafah could cause "tens of thousands" of casualties in the city, the last refuge for displaced Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the army to set its sights on Rafah. He told military and security officials late Friday to "submit to the cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions" of Hamas in the southern city.

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.