An Israeli army raid in April set off a near three-day gunbattle with Palestinian militants. By the time it was over, homes had been blasted to rubble and many residents had fled.

The raid wasn't in Gaza, where Israel is at war with Hamas, but more than 100 kilometers away in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank — a territory that has been under Israeli military rule for over a half-century.

The Biden administration has launched an intense drive to persuade Hamas and Israel to accept a new cease-fire proposal in the nearly eight-month-old war in Gaza while it also presses Arab nations to get the militant group to go along with the terms.

It comes as President Joe Biden suggested in a Time magazine interview published Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be prolonging the war against Hamas to ensure his political survival. Biden, who gave that interview a week ago, seemed to dial back his criticism in a brief exchange with reporters following an immigration speech at the White House.

Israel's announcement that four more hostages died in Hamas captivity, including three men in their 80s, stoked fears that time is running out for captives in Gaza who are still alive.

It set off protests across Israel calling for an immediate cease-fire deal that would secure the release of the dozens of remaining captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Syria's foreign minister said Tuesday that any dialogue between Syria and Turkey should follow Ankara's announcement that it will withdraw its troops from all Syrian territories it controls.

Faisal Mekdad's comments during a joint news conference with Iran's acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, came after Turkey threatened in recent days to act against Kurdish-led authorities in Syria's northeast as they prepare to hold municipal elections next week.

Dozens of men have attacked two restaurants in Baghdad including a KFC, security officials said, as calls grow to boycott U.S. brands over Israel's war in Gaza.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Western-linked brands in Iraq that started last week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu views a plan outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden for a truce in Gaza and hostage release deal as "partial", a government spokesman said Monday.

Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would eventually end the fighting, free all hostages held by Palestinian militants and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Gaza Strip without Hamas in power.

The cease-fire proposal announced by President Joe Biden has placed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a crossroads, with either path likely to shape the legacy of Israel's longest-serving and deeply divisive leader.

The proposal offers the possibility of ending Israel's war against Hamas, returning scores of hostages held by the Islamic militant group, quieting the northern border with Lebanon and potentially advancing a historic agreement to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia.

Israeli airstrikes around the Syrian city of Aleppo killed several people early on Monday, including an Iranian military adviser, the Syrian state media and Iranian news outlets reported.

Israel did not immediately acknowledge the strikes.

On the same scorching day last month, Israeli troops fought street battles with Hamas militants in Gaza, its fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

As the war in the Gaza Strip nears its ninth month, Israel's military is getting pulled deeper into conflicts on multiple fronts and risks becoming overstretched, analysts told AFP.

Iran's acting foreign minister dismissed a Gaza cease-fire deal proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and warned Israel against launching an all-out war on Lebanon during a visit to Beirut Monday, his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died last month.

Ali Bagheri Kani replaced Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19 in a mountainous area near Iran's border with Azerbaijan, along with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation of other officials.