(Corrects spelling of Netanyahu in headline)

CAIRO (Reuters) -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel deeply regretted what he described as the "tragic mishap" that occurred at the Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday.

An Israeli strike on Nasser hospital killed at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for agencies including Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

"Our war is with Hamas terrorists. Our just goals are defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home," Netanyahu said.

(Reuters) -World leaders and journalist groups reacted to an Israeli strike on Monday at Gaza Strip's Nasser hospital that killed at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS:

"The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Israeli strikes that killed five journalists in Nasser hospital in southern Gaza and calls for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press."

PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS SYNDICATE:

CAIRO (Reuters) -Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed on Monday developments in Syria and the region with U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack in Damascus, according to a statement from the Syrian president's office.

The meeting comes after Barrack discussed Syria and Lebanon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel a day earlier.

Syrian and Israeli officials have been conducting U.S.-mediated talks on de-escalating conflict in southern Syria.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Jaidaa Taha; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

CAIRO (Reuters) -Syria said on Monday that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around Mount Hermon, saying the operation violated its sovereignty and posed a further threat to regional security.

Israel did not immediately comment on the accusation by Syria's foreign ministry, which comes as the two countries engage in U.S.-mediated talks on de-escalating their conflict in southern Syria. Damascus hopes to reach a security arrangement that could eventually pave the way for broader political talks.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey's presidential communications office on Monday called Israel's latest strikes on Gaza "an attack on press freedom and another war crime," after Palestinian officials said at least 15 people, including four journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, were killed at Nasser hospital.

(Fixes spelling of envoy's surname Barrack in paragraphs 2 and 9)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel on Monday signalled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the Lebanese armed forces took action to disarm Iran-backed Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah.

The announcement from the Israeli prime minister's office came a day after Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who has been heavily involved in a plan that would disarm Hezbollah and withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon.

(Reuters) -The Israeli military said it carried out a strike in the area of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Monday and that the chief of the general staff had ordered an inquiry.

Palestinian health officials said at least 20 people had been killed in the strike, including five journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters.

A diplomatic row between the United States and France escalated on Monday when Washington decided to stand firmly behind its ambassador's criticism of the French response to a rising tide of antisemitism.

US ambassador Charles Kushner, the father of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, was ordered to report to the French foreign ministry on Monday.

But, as Kushner was absent, the US embassy's charge d'affaires went in his place, and was received by two French foreign ministry directors, a French diplomatic source said.

(Reuters) -Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September, a Syrian official told Reuters on Monday.

Sharaa, who once pledged allegiance to al Qaeda before severing ties in 2016, met with U.S President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia in May in a bid to have sanctions on Syria lifted.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Gaza's civil defence agency said five journalists were among at least 20 people killed Monday when Israeli strikes hit a hospital in the south, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing regret over the "tragic mishap".

Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera all issued statements mourning their slain contributors, while the Israeli military said it would investigate the incident.