A spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said Israel was "moving ahead" with a ground operation, but gave no timeline.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at such steps when asked by a reporter in Italy about reports that his department had recommended cuts in military aid to an Israeli unit involved in violent incidents in the West Bank.

The ministry of interior official said the attack had killed one person and wounded eight others, while the military source reported three Iraqi military personnel had been wounded.

Analysts said spiraling tit-for-tat violence could still be avoided, provided Iran continues to play down the reported Israeli strike and Israel takes no further action.

The United States vetoed a draft resolution that would recommend the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly to accept Palestine's full membership to the world body, stopping the UN from recognizing a Palestinian state.

"The foreign source of the incident has not been confirmed. We have not received any external attack, and the discussion leans more towards infiltration than attack," the Iranian official said on condition of anonymity.

NBC and CNN, citing sources familiar with the matter and a US official, respectively, said Israel had provided Washington with pre-notification of the strike.

"We urge Australians in both Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories to depart if it's safe to do so," the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a travel advisory update.

The hub has struggled to clear a backlog of flights in the aftermath of heavy rain that swamped the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Several drones "have been successfully shot down by the country's air defence, there are no reports of a missile attack for now," Iran's space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said on X.

Israel had warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Most of them were intercepted. 

The picture taken by Reuters news agency's Mohammed Salem shows Inas Abu Maamar cradling the body of five-year-old Saly, who was killed with her mother and sister when a missile hit their home in Khan Younis in October.

The Islamic republic carried out its first-ever direct attack on Israel, firing drones and missiles on the weekend. The barrage -- to which Israel's army chief has vowed a response -- was retaliation for an April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus. Iran blamed Israel for the consular attack.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend in an attack that caused little damage after most of the projectiles were intercepted.

At least 20 people were reported to have died in the deluge in Oman while another person was said to have died in floods in the UAE that closed government offices and schools for days. 

Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimetres (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

The war in the besieged territory and its soaring civilian toll have revived the push for a two-state solution, with the UN Security Council preparing to vote Thursday on full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state, according to diplomatic sources.

An expert advised the government not to be careless and to prioritize diplomatic efforts in evacuating the Indonesian citizens from impacted regions following the Iran-Israel conflict.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has reached out to a dozen countries to call for de-escalation and promote restraint following Iran's assault on Israel over the weekend, with experts expecting that Indonesia will use its diplomatic channels for its own benefit amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

"We categorically declare that the smallest action against Iranian interests will certainly be met with a severe, widespread and painful response against any perpetrator," Raisi told the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Six months of war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza have triggered violence across the region involving Iranian proxies and allies who say they act in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Indonesia expressed “deep concern” for the escalation of violence in the Middle East and called on “all parties” to exercise restraint. It did not join the chorus of Israeli allies condemning the attack.

Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran's consulate building in Syria's capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel.

Tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's war on Gaza were papered over as the US president offered "ironclad" support, including shooting down Iranian drones.

The threat of open warfare erupting between the arch Middle East foes and dragging in the United States put the region on edge, triggering calls for restraint from global powers and Arab nations to avoid further escalation.

"The matter can be deemed concluded," Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a post on social media platform X just a few hours after the start of the operation late Saturday.

Tehran's attacks late on Saturday, launched after a suspected Israeli air strike on its embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 that killed officers of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, raised the threat of a wider regional conflict.