The campaign, which was hastened after the discovery of the first polio case in a Gazan baby last month, relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged enclave.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called on Monday for unity among the countries of the Global South amid sluggish worldwide progress toward achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), saying before his African counterparts that Indonesia remained committed to furthering its economic cooperation with the continent.

In the evening, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities to protest the government and call for a hostage release deal.

The scars of ongoing clashes in the occupied Palestinian territory, which began on Wednesday as part of what Israel has described as a counter-terrorism operation, were everywhere: collapsed walls, uprooted trees, tiled roofs covering mounds of rubble.

Some 230,000 mpox doses are immediately available to be dispatched, said WHO official Tim Nguyen, donated by the European Commission and Danish mpox vaccine manufacturer Bavarian Nordic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it will need to vaccinate at least 90 percent of the children in Gaza for the campaign to succeed but it faces huge challenges in the Palestinian enclave, which has been largely destroyed by nearly 11 months of war.

The "counter-terrorism" operation underway across the northern West Bank since early Wednesday has killed 16 Palestinians, the Israeli military said. The Palestinian health ministry gave the same figure, after both revised earlier tolls.

The Foreign Ministry in Jakarta advises caution for Indonesian citizens in Lebanon in light of the rising tensions fueled by an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top commander of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Two Palestinians were killed in the city of Jenin, four others in a nearby village, and four more in a refugee camp near the town of Tubas.

"The declaration on the state of emergency enables the IDF (Israeli military) to issue instructions to the citizens of Israel, including limiting gatherings and closing sites where it may be relevant," Gallant said, in a statement issued by his office.

Several Blue Helmets have been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which has also left dozens of Lebanese civilians dead in fallout from the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The Middle East has been on edge for weeks after Hezbollah and Iran vowed to respond to an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a senior commander of the group as well as the assassination in Tehran of Hamas's political leader, also blamed on Israel.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have for months tried to reach a deal to end more than 10 months of war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.

Under pressure to respond to critics of US support for Israel's war in Gaza, the vice president used her Thursday night speech to repeat earlier calls for a ceasefire and a hostages deal. She said she supported Israel's right to defend itself while also favoring the Palestinian right to self-determination.

Unrelenting air strikes by Israel more than 10 months into its war against Gaza rulers Hamas, restrictions of aid entering the besieged territory and hot summer temperatures all threaten the viability of a life-saving inoculation drive.

The strikes came more than 24 hours after Israel carried out similar raids deep inside east Lebanon and as tensions mounted in the wake of the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander.

The Gaza Strip in Palestine has become the deadliest place, with more than 250 humanitarian workers being killed in the past 10 months, amid Israel’s attack on Hamas, which began in October of last year.

More than 10 months into the Gaza war, so many bodies are arriving at the cemetery in Deir el-Balah that the men, working in the hot sun, hardly have space to bury them.

Diplomatic pressure on Israel to agree a truce has increased in recent weeks, as Hamas officials, some analysts and protesters in Israel have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

Blinken will leave Saturday and seek to "conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal" presented Friday during talks in Doha by the United States, a State Department statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denied there would be any change to rules prohibiting Jews from praying at the site, which is holy to Muslims as well. He also issued a rebuke to Ben-Gvir, head of one of the nationalist religious parties in the ruling coalition.

The sale comes as Biden has pressed Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire after 10 months of bloodshed, although the weapons would take years to reach Israel.

The three European countries issued a statement on Monday calling on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks against Israel following the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tehran last month.

Kirby said the US had increased its regional force posture and shared Israel's concerns about a possible Iranian-backed attack after Iran and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran last month. 

Indonesia has joined a chorus of nations condemning a deadly Israeli air strike over the weekend on a school housing displaced Palestinians, with Jakarta calling for the international community to stop the “crimes against humanity” and ensure accountability from Israel.

The upcoming second Indonesia-Africa Forum, slated for Sept. 1 to 3, will focus on discussions about the cooperation between Indonesia and African nations, including on critical minerals for the electric vehicle (EV) battery industry, which requires minerals mined by both parties.

The administration briefed Congress this week on its decision to lift the ban, a congressional aide said, with the sale can continue as early as next week.

Medical personnel from the Indonesian Military will be heading to Egypt and, if security condition permits, the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's Hamas-controlled civil defence agency said Israeli bombardment killed more than 18 people in strikes on two schools on Thursday, as Iran accused Israel of wanting to spread war in the Middle East.

Army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi vowed to "find him [Sinwar], attack him" and force Hamas to find someone to replace him.