Arab countries blamed Israel, which has rained bombs on Gaza since the bloody October 7 attack by Hamas, and protests erupted in Muslim countries from Egypt to Pakistan while Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah vowed a "day of rage".

Indonesia urges the international community, especially the United Nations' Security Council, to immediately take concrete steps to stop attacks and acts of violence in Gaza following a strike on a hospital in the war-torn area.

Biden's trip to the Middle East was supposed to calm the region, even as he demonstrated US support for its ally Israel, which has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement whose fighters killed 1,300 Israelis in a rampage on Oct. 7.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the deployment would allow the United States "to respond more quickly" to the crisis, while the White House stressed it did not intend to put US combat forces on the ground.

Biden's visit will mark a significant show of U.S. support for its top Middle East ally after Hamas gunmen killed 1,300 people during a rampage through southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7, the deadliest single day in Israel's 75-year history.

Taliban officials and ministers have at times travelled to regional meetings, mostly those focussed on Afghanistan, but the Belt and Road Forum is among the highest-profile multilateral summits it has been invited to attend.

Israel, seeking vengeance for an attack by Hamas on October 7, has declared war on the militant group, launching a relentless bombing campaign and warning more than a million people in northern Gaza to move south ahead of the operation.

Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on October 7 which killed 1,300 people, sparking a retaliatory bombing campaign that has killed at least 2,215 in the Gaza Strip ahead of a potential Israeli ground invasion of the territory.

At least 1,900 Gazans -- most of them civilians and including more than 600 children -- have been killed in waves of missile strikes on the densely populated enclave.

Any incoming assistance or evacuation effort will only be possible through a humanitarian corridor because of Gaza's ever-volatile conditions, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke as Hamas and Israel traded heavy fire for a seventh day, after hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on Saturday and killed 1,200 people.

During a campaign speech in Florida, Trump also falsely accused the Biden administration of bankrolling the Hamas assault as a result of a prisoner exchange deal with Iran, which has historically funded Hamas and Hezbollah.

Explosions from air strikes echo every few minutes - killing more than 1,500 people in Gaza so far including hundreds of children, local health authorities say.

The UN said the mass relocation of the entire population in northern Gaza to the south of the enclave was "impossible" and urgently appealed for the order to be rescinded.

"Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Thursday.

Donors need to step up their funding to precipitate more relevant and accessible innovation in health and development, practitioners said on the second day of the 2023 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting.

Israel said dozens of its fighter jets struck more than 200 targets overnight on Wednesday in a neighbourhood of Gaza City that it said had been used by Hamas to launch its unprecedented wave of attacks.

"The death toll is a staggering 1,200 dead Israelis," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in a video message, adding that "the overwhelming majority of them" were civilians.

At least 14 Americans died in the attack. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the US believed 20 Americans were missing but that it remained unclear if they were being held hostage.

Later on Tuesday, the European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council called for sustained aid for the Palestinian territories on Tuesday following concerns it could be axed after the Hamas attack on Israel.

The investment will help spur the development of mRNA vaccines in low and middle income countries through a low-cost alternative platform.

In the warning issued on Tuesday, Indonesia advised its citizens to cancel any trips to the Palestinian territories or Israel and called on the hundreds of citizens who were there before the conflict escalated to immediately leave the areas.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also told Abbas the Gulf kingdom continued "to stand by the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights to a decent life, achieve their hopes and aspirations, and achieve just and lasting peace."

Nahdlatul Ulama called for restraint from both Palestine and Israel amid heightening conflicts in the region, saying in a statement that an open war would only harm civilians.

The Israeli air strikes became more aggressive as night fell, and witnesses said several Hamas security headquarters and ministries were hit. The strikes destroyed some roads and houses.

Fighting was still raging at seven or eight locations inside Israel captured by the fighters, who killed 700 Israelis and seized dozens of hostages in an assault that shattered Israel's reputation of invincibility.

The Indonesian government on Monday began preparing a contingency plan to evacuate its citizens from the Gaza Strip following the escalation of conflict between Palestine and Israel, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Israeli army said it hit more than 500 targets in the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip in overnight clashes, while fighting persisted in seven to eight locations inside Israel around the enclave.

Iran's clerical leadership openly supports the Islamist militants, who control the blockaded and impoverished Gaza Strip, and hailed the sneak attack that inflicted the deadliest blow on Israel in decades.

"China is highly concerned about the recent escalation of conflict between Palestine and Israel," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.