"We don't want to get into a war because it's not good for Israel. We have the ability to take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don't want to do it," Gallant told reporters on the last day of the visit.

Egypt accounts for more than half of this year's haj fatalities -- 658 out of more than 1,000 reported as of Friday by around 10 countries stretching from Senegal to Indonesia, according to an AFP tally.

Witnesses and the civil defense agency in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip reported an Israeli bombardment in western Rafah, where medics said drone strikes and shelling killed at least seven people.

At least 550 people have died on haj, diplomats told French outlet Agence France Presse (AFP) on Tuesday. Three hundred and twenty-three of the dead were Egyptians, most of whom perished due to heat-related illness, AFP reported, citing two Arab diplomats.

US envoy Amos Hochstein was sent to Lebanon to try and cool tensions following an increase in cross-border fire along Lebanon's southern frontier that has escalated to Hezbollah hinting it could attack Haifa, Israel's third-largest city.

"Hope was expressed for continued joint work on further strengthening of the partnership between Russia and South Africa in all its aspects," a statement said on the Kremlin website, referring to Putin's telephone call to Ramaphosa.

The Foreign Ministry said that the plan proposed by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto to send an Indonesian peacekeeping force to Gaza can only be carried out if the United Nations mandates it.

Protests against Netanyahu's handling of the war against Hamas militants have gathered pace, with tens of thousands taking to the streets of Israel's biggest city, Tel Aviv, every weekend.

"Fourteen Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing" during the performance of haj rituals, Jordan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman invited 2,000 Palestinians to the haj at his own expense including relatives of Gazans who have sought refuge elsewhere.

Participants, who numbered 1.5 million by Monday, have travelled from all parts of the world for the annual rites, this year held in intense heat with forecast daily highs of 44 degrees Celsius.

Since the war erupted, essential aid deliveries to Gaza have been severely restricted by the Israeli government, leaving many people short of food and water, and several thousand children suffering acute malnutrition.

The plan to provide sanctuary for the Palestinian children, Prabowo said, came from the initiative of former East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa and leaders of several pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in East and West Java.

The annual pilgrimage, one of the world's largest religious gatherings, coincides again this year with the hot Saudi summer, with officials predicting average highs of 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit).

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 leaders in southern Italy, Sullivan said the world should encourage the Palestinian militant group to accept the proposal and avoid stalemate.

Israeli ground forces have been operating in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, since early May to pursue Hamas Palestinian fighters, despite widespread international alarm over the fate of displaced people crowded in the city.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Indonesia's incoming president, Prabowo Subianto, for offering assistance in crisis-hit Gaza during their meeting Tuesday at an aid conference in Jordan.

Indonesia has called on all parties to the Gaza conflict to work quickly to implement a resolution for a three-phase ceasefire in Gaza, as Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto visits Jordan to discuss measures for a coordinated international response to the humanitarian crisis.

Indonesia, through the Foreign Ministry, has welcomed a United Nations Security Council resolution for a three-phase ceasefire plan in Gaza, urging all parties to work toward ending Israel’s eight-month assault on Gaza.

Hamas accepts the UN security council resolution in regard to the ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli troops and swap of hostages for detainees held by Israel, he said.

In his capacity as defense minister, the president-elect met with the Jordian king on Monday to discuss Indonesia's continuing concerns over the worsening humanitarian situation and rising death toll amid the war in Gaza.

A 73-year-old British man died and several other passengers and crew onboard flight SQ321 from London suffered skull, brain and spine injuries during the terrifying high-altitude ordeal.

Going on behalf of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the president-elect assured that he would coordinate with the United Nations and several heads of state to implement Jakarta’s plans for Gaza, including the resettlement of around 1,000 Palestinians to Indonesia. 

The building in the northern suburbs of Australia's largest city was attacked and sprayed with paint by a person carrying a small sledgehammer at around 3 a.m. local time on Monday, New South Wales police said.

The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, which also includes Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan, called for an immediate ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, where Israel has been battling Hamas militants for more than eight months.

The former general and defence minister announced his resignation from the emergency body after failing to get a post-war plan for Gaza approved by Netanyahu, which he demanded in May.

The departure of Gantz's centrist party will not pose an immediate threat to the government. But it could have a serious impact nonetheless, leaving Netanyahu reliant on hardliners, with no end in sight to the Gaza war and a possible escalation in fighting with Lebanese Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the four, who were in "good medical condition", had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival during Hamas's October 7 attack that sparked war, now in its ninth month.

Colombia is Israel's main coal supplier with exports of some $450 million in 2023, according to the Israeli embassy in Bogota, which remains operational despite Petro's government severing diplomatic ties in May.

The military named the rescued hostages as Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, all of whom were abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7.