Palestinians held funerals on Friday and assessed the damage of a days-long Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since war erupted in Gaza.

Residents gathered beside seven bodies in a hospital in Tulkarem as the father of one of the dead wept in the corner, an AFP photographer said.

Israeli forces withdrew Friday after raiding the Tulkarem area for almost two days, during which the military said troops killed "at least eight terrorists".

The United Nations said Friday that thousands of babies had been born in conditions "beyond belief" in Gaza since the war there erupted more than three months ago.

UNICEF spokeswoman Tess Ingram, back from a recent visit to the Gaza Strip, described mothers bleeding to death and one nurse who had performed emergency caesareans on six dead women.

Nearly 20,000 babies have been born into the war that began after the Hamas attacks inside Israel on October 7, according to UNICEF, the UN children's agency.

"Good morning, madame. This is the bank calling. Are you at home?"

Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out more than three months ago, residents of southern Lebanon have been receiving strange phone calls from Lebanese numbers and from people speaking in Lebanese accents.

The voices on the other end may claim to be conducting a survey, distributing aid, or calling from a public body.

But the callers ask about families and their whereabouts, just before towns or homes come under Israeli attack, residents told AFP.

Pakistan and Iran "agreed to de-escalate" tensions Friday, Islamabad said, after trading deadly airstrikes on militant targets in each other's territory this week.

The rare military actions in the porous border region of Baluchistan -- split between the two nations -- had stoked regional tensions already enflamed by the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran carried out a missile and drone attack on what it called "terrorist" targets in Pakistan on Tuesday night, with Pakistan in turn striking militant targets inside Iran on Thursday.

Israel pressed its southward offensive against Hamas in Gaza on Friday as US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first call in weeks amid tensions over post-war plans.

At Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza's main southern city, a child with a bloodied face cried on a gurney. Ambulances arrived with the injured and the dead while automatic weapons fire sounded beyond.

An orange fireball flashed above rooftops and an AFP journalist saw plumes of dark smoke towering above the city.

Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed another attack on a US ship early Friday, after the United States launched fresh strikes on rebel targets over their aggression towards vessels in and around the Red Sea.

While the Iran-backed rebels maintained they had struck the commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden, the US military later said the group's missiles had missed their mark.

Steven Gerrard signed a new deal with Al-Ettifaq to remain as coach until 2027 on Thursday, just moments after former Liverpool teammate Jordan Henderson left the Saudi club.

The 43-year-old Gerrard arrived at Al-Ettifaq last July on a two-year deal but his team are a modest eighth in the Pro League table, 28 points behind leaders Al-Hilal.

"This is very pleasing for myself and my family and feels like recognition for a lot of hard work and commitment," said former England captain Gerrard in a statement.

The United States launched fresh strikes against Yemen's Huthis on Thursday and President Joe Biden signaled they would keep going until the Iranian-backed rebels stop targeting ships in the Red Sea.

The latest US attacks hit two anti-ship missiles that the Huthis -- who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza -- were preparing to fire into the busy shipping corridor, the US military said.

The United States urged Pakistan and Iran Thursday to avoid escalating tensions after the two countries exchanged air strikes, as President Joe Biden said the clash showed Iran was not "well-liked" in the region.

Tensions between nuclear-armed Islamabad, a US ally, and Washington's foe Tehran have soared after Iran struck alleged militant targets in Pakistan and Pakistan responded in kind.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that US and British military strikes against Yemen's Huthis would continue, because the Iran-backed rebels were still attacking shipping in the Red Sea.

"When you say 'working, are they stopping the Huthi?' No. Are they going to continue? Yes," Biden told reporters at the White House when asked if the strikes were working.

The United States has launched several rounds of air strikes against Huthi targets, including missile and drone facilities, since an initial barrage by US and British forces hit targets in Yemen last Friday.