A senior Hamas official urged supporters worldwide on Monday to take up weapons and fight plans to displace Gaza's people, as Israel issued a sweeping evacuation order in the territory's south, stepping up its renewed offensive.

The idea of forcing Gazans to leave the devastated territory for neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan was first floated by US President Donald Trump, and has since been seized on by right-wing Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed on Sunday to implement it.

The Israeli military on Monday ordered residents in and around the southern Gaza city of Rafah to evacuate their homes, suggesting it could return to ground fighting in the area.

In a post on X, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee addressed residents in areas covering all of Rafah and parts of nearby Khan Yunis.

"The IDF (military) is returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organisations in these areas. For your safety, you must move immediately to the shelters in Al Mawasi," northwest of Rafah, he said.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified Monday in a probe involving alleged payments from Qatar to some of his aides, an investigation he denounced as politically motivated.

Israeli police arrested the prime minister's two long-serving aides, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein earlier on Monday, for their alleged involvement in the case local media have dubbed "Qatargate".

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Monday a new transitional government would aim for consensus in rebuilding the war-torn country but acknowledged it would be unable to satisfy everyone.

The transitional 23-member cabinet -- without a prime minister -- was announced Saturday, more than three months after Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led an offensive that toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa said the new government's goal was rebuilding the country but warned that "will not be able to satisfy everyone".

Iran would have to acquire a nuclear weapon if attacked by the United States or its allies, an adviser to the country's supreme leader warned on Monday, following a threat by US President Donald Trump.

The comments came after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promised to hit back if Trump carried out a threat to bomb the Islamic republic if it did not make a deal to curb its nuclear programme.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu picked former navy commander Eli Sharvit to head the country's domestic security agency, his office said Monday, despite the supreme court freezing the incumbent's dismissal.

Sharvit is not expected to assume office until April 8, the date when the supreme court is scheduled to rule on the dismissal of the current Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar.

Netanyahu moved to sack Bar on March 21, citing an "ongoing lack of trust" in him.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged dozens of countries attending an immigration crime summit on Monday to join forces to dismantle migrant smuggling gangs "once and for all".

Starmer is seeking to crack down on would-be asylum seekers arriving in England on flimsy small boats and has brought together delegates from more than 40 nations for the two-day meeting in London.

The interior ministers of France and Germany were among those attending the Organised Immigration Crime Summit. China and the United States also sent representatives.

Syria's new government, dominated by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's inner circle, faces the daunting challenge of gaining the trust of Syrians, as well as that of Western countries to secure sanctions relief.

The transitional 23-member cabinet -- without a prime minister -- was announced on Saturday, more than three months after Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led an offensive that toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

For the second consecutive year, traditional Eid al-Fitr celebrations marking the end of Ramadan were absent in Gaza on Sunday, as residents of the Palestinian territory awoke to the roar of Israeli bombardment.

"Eid, which was once a day of family reunions and visits, has now become a day of farewells and funerals," said Nahla Abu Matar, a 28-year-old mother, speaking to AFP.

Like hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents, she has been displaced from her home in northern Gaza and is now living in the southern area of Khan Yunis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms, as his country kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike on a house and tent sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least eight people, including five children.

The strike hit Khan Yunis on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.