Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi issued a stern warning Friday against any possible attack by the United States in retaliation for a strike that killed three American troops in Jordan.

"We have said many times that we will not be the initiator of any war, but if a country, a cruel force wants to bully, the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond firmly," Raisi said during a visit to a Gulf naval base operated by the Revolutionary Guards.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in intense political manoeuvring as pressure grows at home and abroad to release hostages held in Gaza and bring fighting to a halt.

A proposal to free the hostages in exchange for a pause in Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory is being studied by Hamas leaders after it was thrashed out by Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Israel soon for talks with Netanyahu on the proposal.

Qatar coach Tintin Marquez said Friday they relish the "positive pressure" of trying to retain their Asian Cup title on home soil, on the eve of a quarter-final with Uzbekistan.

The hosts and holders won all three of their games in the group phase without conceding a goal and then defeated Palestine 2-1 in the last 16.

Qatar face Uzbekistan on Saturday in front of what is expected to be a packed crowd at the 68,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium outside Doha.

Fighting raged Friday in Gaza forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee seeking shelter, after Qatar said Hamas had given "initial" support to a hostage-prisoner exchange that would pause its war with Israel.

The Hamas press office reported Israeli air and artillery bombardment around Khan Yunis -- southern Gaza's main city and the focus of recent fighting.

At a prominent Shiite shrine in southern Tehran, Qasem Ashgari was buying yet another gemstone ring in the hope it would help his prayers to be answered promptly.

Asghari, in his 30s, who was already wearing several bands on each hand, had a specific ring in mind: a silver one, adorned with yellow agate and engraved with religious scripts.

"The reward of one prayer is multiplied... if done with an agate ring," he told AFP while strolling through the meandering alleys of the market near the shrine of Shah Abdolazim.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on four Israeli settlers as President Joe Biden said violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank had reached intolerable levels.

The sanctions marked a rare US move against Israelis as war rages with Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the militants' October 7 attack. It came as Biden traveled to Michigan, where many in the sizable Arab American community have voiced anger over his support for Israel.

British foreign minister David Cameron met Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati in Beirut Thursday to discuss defusing tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border as Israel's military reported new exchanges of fire.

Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the border has seen near-daily exchanges between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.

Cameron and Mikati discussed "ways to restore calm in southern Lebanon, as well as the political and diplomatic solution that is needed," the prime minister's office said.

UN rights experts voiced alarm Thursday at soaring numbers of journalists killed in the Gaza war, decrying an apparent "deliberate" Israeli strategy to silence critical reporting.

"Rarely have journalists paid such a heavy price for just doing their job as those in Gaza now," the five experts said in a statement.

United Nations reports indicate that at least 122 journalists and other media workers have been killed and many others injured in the Gaza Strip since war erupted there following Hamas's deadly attacks inside Israel on October 7.

Hamas has given its "initial" approval to a planned humanitarian pause in its war with Israel and a hostage-prisoner exchange, Qatar said Thursday, as fighting raged in the Gaza Strip.

However, a source close to Hamas told AFP there was no agreement yet on the proposal.

"The meeting in Paris succeeded in consolidating the proposals...," Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said of talks Qatari, US, Israeli and Egyptian officials had on Sunday.

The leader of Hamas was expected in Cairo on Thursday for talks on a proposed truce in Gaza, as Israel kept up its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a six-week truce in its war with Israel, a source told AFP, after mediators gathered in Paris, with international efforts towards a new pause in the devastating war gathering pace.

In Gaza, there was no let-up in fighting or aerial bombardment, with the current focus of combat in the main southern city of Khan Yunis, where Israel says leading Hamas militants are hiding.