Iran on Tuesday rejected Western calls to stand down its threat to retaliate against Israel for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran late last month.

"The declaration by France, Germany and Britain, which raised no objection to the international crimes of the Zionist regime, brazenly asks Iran to take no deterrent action against a regime which has violated its sovereignty and territorial integrity," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.

A 5.5 earthquake hit central Syria late Monday, with the shock felt in neighboring Lebanon, official media in both countries said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday expressed "great concern" about the "spiral of violence" in the Middle East in a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, his spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said in a statement.

Scholz "appealed to President Pezeshkian to do everything possible to prevent a further military escalation", expressed "great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East" and said "the spiral of violence in the Middle East must be broken now".

Frequent beatings, overcrowding, withholding of basic rations. Released Palestinians have described to The Associated Press worsening abuses in Israeli prisons crammed with thousands detained since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago.

Israeli officials have acknowledged that they have made conditions harsher for Palestinians in prisons, with hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasting that prisons will no longer be "summer camps" under his watch.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that he had wanted to attack Lebanon as early as October 11, 2023.

Iranian officials have told U.S. counterparts in meetings in a regional capital that Tehran is willing not to retaliate over the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran should the war on Gaza stop, a senior source said.

The Iranians also said that the Lebanon and Yemen fronts against Israel would be deactivated, the source told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper.

Hamas appeared to push back against resuming negotiations on Thursday on any new cease-fire proposals.

In a statement, it urged mediators United States, Egypt and Qatar to submit a plan to implement what was agreed on last month, based on U.S. President Joe Biden's proposal, "instead of going to more rounds of negotiations or new proposals that provide cover for the occupation's aggression."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday.

The moves come as the U.S. and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

The European Union’s top diplomat says it should consider sanctions in response to calls by Israel’s far-right national security minister to cut off aid to Gaza.

Writing on the X platform late Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the recent remarks by Itamar Ben-Gvir constitute “incitement to war crimes,” adding that “sanctions must be on our EU agenda.”

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain have endorsed calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid.

In a joint statement released Monday, they endorsed the latest push by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war.