The United States military said Wednesday that it had carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq that have launched attacks on U.S. forces.

Two officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said the strikes hit three locations in the area of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad, killing eight members of the Kataeb Hezbollah militant group. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Israel and Hamas announced a deal on Wednesday allowing at least 50 hostages and scores of Palestinian prisoners to be freed, while offering besieged Gaza residents an extendable four-day truce after weeks of all-out war.

In the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the war, Palestinian militants will release during a four-day truce 50 women and children taken captive during their October 7 raids.

U.S. forces on Tuesday "responded" following an attack on them at an Iraq base that caused minor injuries to personnel and damage to infrastructure, a U.S. military official said.

"Following the attack... U.S. forces responded in self-defense against those who carried out the strike," the official said on condition of anonymity when asked about a dawn drone attack in the Abu Ghraib region west of Baghdad.

In black robes, white moustaches and traditional hats, Druze religious elders stood before the coffin of Israeli soldier Adi Malik Harb, killed fighting Hamas militants in Gaza.

But while Israel's Druze minority serve in the military and fight and die for the country, many of them say their communities are marginalized and deprived of public investment while families are fined crippling sums for building homes due to selective enforcement of planning rules.

Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for the release of civilian detainees and an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, state media said, as the Chinese President addressed a virtual summit of fellow BRICS leaders.

"All parties in the conflicts should immediately cease fire and hostilities, stop all violence and attacks targeting civilians, and release civilian detainees to avoid more loss of lives and suffering," Xi said, according to Beijing's state news agency Xinhua.

The helicopter-borne Houthi attack on an Israel-linked ship in the Red Sea highlights the danger now lurking in one of the world's key shipping routes as the Israel-Hamas war rages, as well as the rebels' tactics mirroring those of its chief sponsor, Iran.

While Tehran has denied aiding the Yemen rebel group in launching their attack Sunday, the targeted ship before the assault passed by an American-sanctioned Iranian cargo vessel suspected as serving as a forward spying base in the Red Sea. The rebels, dressed commando-style in bulletproof vests carrying assault rifles, covered each other and moved in military formation before quickly seizing control of the bridge of the Galaxy Leader.

Hopes mounted Tuesday that Hamas could release dozens of hostages from war-torn Gaza after the militant group's leader and key mediator Qatar said a truce deal was in sight and the Israeli premier pointed to "progress".

"We are close to reaching a deal on a truce," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said, according to a statement sent by his office to AFP, after US President Joe Biden indicated an accord was on the cards.

Israel has recalled its ambassador to South Africa, Eliav Belotserkovsky, back to Jerusalem "for consultations" ahead of a parliamentary vote in the African country to decide the fate of the Israeli embassy on Tuesday.

The two countries' diplomatic relations have recently witnessed a rise in tensions over the Israeli war on Gaza. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa previously said his country believes Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

Israeli troops battled Palestinian militants in a dense, urban refugee camp on Tuesday as the army expanded operations across northern Gaza, where residents have been without electricity, water or access to humanitarian aid for weeks.

The front line of the war, now in its seventh week, has shifted to the Jabaliya camp, a dense warren of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation and their descendants. Israel has been bombarding the area for weeks, and the military said Hamas fighters have regrouped there and in other eastern districts after being pushed out of much of Gaza City.

China's top diplomat welcomed four Arab foreign ministers and the Indonesian one to Beijing on Monday, saying his country would work with "our brothers and sisters" in the Arab and Islamic world to try to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible.

The ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Indonesia chose to start a tour of world capitals in Beijing, a testament to both China's growing geopolitical influence and its longstanding support for the Palestinians.