Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was hitting its enemies and "continuing forward to victory" as the country braced for an expected attack by Iran and Hezbollah.

Israel was "determined to defend" itself following threats of retaliation after its killing of a top Hezbollah commander and following the death of Hamas's former chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Batoul and her family have been scrambling to secure housing outside Beirut's southern suburbs where an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander last week, but spiking demand has sent prices soaring.

Many in the southern suburbs -- a packed residential area known as Dahieh which is also a Hezbollah bastion -- have been trying to leave, fearing full-blown war between the Iran-backed group and Israel in the wake of the commander's killing.

Ten people including at least four fighters were killed Wednesday when a bomb-laden truck exploded at a checkpoint in Syria's Turkish-controlled northern city of Azaz, a war monitor said.

An AFP correspondent in the area said a booby-trapped truck had detonated at a checkpoint inside the city.

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "avoid a cycle of reprisals" in the Middle East, his office said, as fears of a regional war soar.

After earlier telling his Iranian counterpart to "avoid a cycle of reprisals that would put the populations and stability of the region at risk", Macron urged Netanyahu in a telephone call on Wednesday to adopt the same reasoning, the French presidency said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine was carrying out a "large-scale provocation" in the border region of Kursk, where the Russian army was battling Ukrainian fighters for a second day.

"As you know, the Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation," Putin said in a televised meeting with government officials. "It is firing indiscriminately from various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances."

Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus, who is set to lead an interim government after the premier was ousted, called for calm and urged people to use the opportunity to build a better nation.

"I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence," he said in a statement, a day ahead of his expected return to the country from Europe. "Be calm and get ready to build the country. If we take the path of violence everything will be destroyed."

Efforts continue around the region to prevent the war from becoming a wider conflict after the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.

Inside Gaza, the only corridor for humanitarian aid to enter the south has been shut down because of fighting in the area. The Palestinian territory faces a severe humanitarian crisis as its Health Ministry says the death toll in the war approaches 40,000.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Tuesday it has chosen Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza who masterminded the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, as its new leader.

The choice of Sinwar, a secretive figure who leads Hamas’ hardliners and is close to Iran, was a defiant step. Sinwar is at the top of Israel’s kill list as it seeks to destroy Hamas and its leadership after the Oct. 7 attack.

Tensions have soared in the past week as Iran and its allies vowed revenge for the killing, blamed on Israel, of Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and after an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah's top military commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday, with the group claiming cross-border attacks and low-flying Israeli warplanes breaking the sound barrier over Beirut.

Hamas ally Hezbollah on Tuesday congratulated Yahya Sinwar on his selection as the Palestinian militant group's new political chief following the killing last week of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh.

Sinwar's appointment affirms that "the enemy... has failed to achieve its objectives" by killing Hamas leaders and officials, a Hezbollah statement said.