US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday he would seek "concrete measures" from Israel to minimize harm to Gaza civilians as he headed on his second crisis trip to the Middle East since a Hamas assault triggered a war.

President Joe Biden has promised full support and ramped-up military aid to Israel for its retaliatory strikes in Gaza, but in a visible shift of tone has also voiced empathy for Palestinian suffering which has stoked anger in parts of the world.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday it was launching a fundraising campaign for war-torn Gaza, creating a rare opening for residents to show solidarity with Palestinians.

The move comes as the kingdom attempts to strike a balance between championing the Palestinian cause -- its traditional role -- and keeping attention on domestic economic and social reforms spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It has been nearly one month since the October 7 attacks in which Hamas militants killed 1,400 people and kidnapped more than 230, according to Israeli officials.

Iranian prison authorities have blocked 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi's hospital transfer for urgently needed care over her refusal to wear the compulsory hijab, her family has said.

Veteran rights activist Mohammadi, 51, who is currently being held in Tehran's Evin prison, was awarded the prize in October "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran".

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it attacked 19 Israeli positions along the border simultaneously Thursday, prompting a "broad" retaliatory assault, on the eve of a speech by the Iran-backed group's leader on the Israel-Hamas war.

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between the Israeli army and Hamas ally Hezbollah, since the Palestinian militants launched a shock attack on Israel on October 7, stoking fears of a regional conflagration.

Israeli ground troops fighting a war to destroy Hamas had surrounded Gaza City on Friday as top US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived in Israel and declared that the country has right and a duty to defend itself.

Israel, meanwhile, began expelling thousands of Palestinian workers back to Gaza, despite ongoing fighting and air strikes that have killed thousands of civilians in the territory.

In Geneva, the United Nations launched an emergency aid appeal seeking $1.2 billion to help some 2.7 million people facing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.

Egypt will help evacuate "about 7,000" foreigners and dual nationals from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said, with the health ministry announcing hundreds of new arrivals were processed Thursday.

The health ministry said 21 wounded Palestinians were brought out for treatment in Egyptian hospitals Thursday, and "344 foreign nationals, including 72 children" also passed through the Rafah border crossing.

It was the second day that Egypt had opened the crossing to let people out of Gaza after a first on Wednesday.

In a small village in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, solar panels adorn most homes, part of a small but growing effort to harness the sun's energy in Iraq, where electricity is scarce.

"Solar covers all our needs: the refrigerator, television, air cooler, washing machine, vacuum cleaner," said Daniar Abdallah, 33, a resident of Hazar Merd who converted to solar and hasn't looked back.

"It has helped us a lot," said the father of two, who spent $2,800 in 2018 to install photovoltaic panels for his family home.

President Joe Biden, when responding to a heckler at a Minnesota campaign event Wednesday night, said he thinks there should be a humanitarian "pause" in the Israeli-Hamas war to get "prisoners" out of Gaza.

The 80-year-old Democrat was delivering remarks to some 200 supporters in the northern US state when a member of the audience shouted out to him.

"As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now," she said, referring to the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas.

It's hard to miss the former United States embassy in the centre of Iran's capital Tehran, because it is daubed with striking anti-American murals.

The building, today known as the "Den of Spies" museum, encapsulates the hostility of Iran-US relations marred by decades of mistrust and crises, including the current Israel-Hamas war.

Visitors to the site are greeted by a tattered Stars and Stripes flag and a mural of the Statue of Liberty, her arm carrying a crumbled-away torch of freedom, while another depicts her with a skull face.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Japan, South Korea and India after his latest crisis visit to the Middle East, the State Department said Wednesday, keeping a US focus on Asia.

On the three stops next week, Blinken will "advance collaborative efforts to support a free and open Indo-Pacific region that is prosperous, secure, connected and resilient," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.