US cancels high-level meeting with Israeli officials after Netanyahu blames Biden

Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel's army warned it had readied an "offensive" against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on the country's northern front.

The army's announcement that its plans for an offensive in Lebanon had been approved, along with a warning from Foreign Minister Israel Katz of Hezbollah's destruction in a "total war", came as U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein visited the region to push for de-escalation.

Syrian state media said an Israeli strike on military sites in the country's south killed an army officer on Wednesday. Israel has not commented on the report.

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group that has fought alongside Hamas, said its militants were battling troops amid Israeli shelling of western Rafah.

Witnesses reported seeing Israeli military vehicles enter the city's Saudi neighbourhood, followed by nighttime gun battles.

Parts of central Gaza also saw fighting overnight, with witnesses reporting artillery shelling and heavy gunfire in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood.

In a message on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, U.S. President Joe Biden called for the implementation of a ceasefire plan he outlined last month.

Hochstein said the plan would ultimately lead to "the end of the conflict in Gaza", which would in turn quell fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

But U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediation efforts have stalled for months since a one-week truce in November that saw dozens of hostages freed and increased aid deliveries into Gaza.

- 'Minimize civilian harm' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced mounting criticism at home over his handling of the Gaza war and hostage crisis, with regular mass demonstrations led by captives' relatives and anti-government activists.

Thousands gathered in front of parliament in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, calling for early elections and the resumption of truce talks.

In a video recording, Netanyahu criticized close ally Washington for "withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel", in remarks rejected by the White House.

Except for "one particular shipment of munitions" that U.S. officials were looking at closely, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said "there are no other pauses. None."

U.S. news website Axios and Israeli media said Washington had cancelled a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran following Netanyahu's comments.

The right-wing Israeli leader is due to address the US Congress next month.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, have pending arrest warrants requested against them at the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A U.N. report issued Wednesday detailed six "indiscriminate and disproportionate" Israeli strikes that killed at least 218 people in the first two months of the war.

It said the strikes involved "the suspected use" of heavy bombs -- a shipment of which the United States had paused in May over concerns Israel might use them in its Rafah assault.

The strikes targeted "densely populated" areas including refugee camps, a school and market, the U.N. rights office said, making the use of heavy bombs "highly likely to amount to a prohibited indiscriminate attack".

U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said: "The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid, or at the very least minimise to every extent, civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel's bombing campaign."

More than six months since the attacks featured in the report, "there is no clarity as to what happened or steps toward accountability", Turk said.