Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, began a visit to Iraq on Wednesday, aiming to deepen already close ties with the neighboring country on his first trip abroad since taking office.

The three-day trip comes amid turmoil in the Middle East sparked by the war in Gaza, which has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups around the region and complicated Iraq's relations with the United States.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that a military helicopter crashed in the Rafah area of southern Gaza overnight, killing two soldiers and injuring seven.

"An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire... Two IDF (Israeli army) soldiers were killed as a result of the crash," the military said in a statement, adding that the seven injured had been evacuated to hospital for treatment.

Israel has intensified airstrikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria, inflicting civilian casualties on at least three occasions, an independent U.N. commission said Tuesday.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly a year ago, Israel has conducted dozens of airstrikes in different parts of Syria. Iran blamed Israel for the April airstrike on Iranian consular offices in Damascus that killed seven people including two Iranian generals, and Tehran responded with an unprecedented attack against Israel almost two weeks later.

The United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.

The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

The U.N. chief has said that the United Nations has offered to monitor any cease-fire in Gaza and demanded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.

Secretary-General António Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it's "unrealistic" to think the U.N. could play a role in Gaza's future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a U.N. role.

Israel's defense minister said Tuesday that the window is closing on an opportunity to reach a temporary cease-fire deal with Hamas that he believes could also bring calm to Israel's volatile northern border with Lebanon.

Speaking to reporters, Yoav Gallant said that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting, as Hamas has demanded, raising questions about the feasibility of a deal.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges.

The Palestinians have circulated a draft U.N. resolution demanding that Israel end its "unlawful presence" in Gaza and the West Bank within six months.

The proposed General Assembly resolution, which was obtained by The Associated Press, follows a ruling by the top United Nations court in July that said Israel's presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and must end.

An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group.

It was among the deadliest strikes yet in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.

Turkey said Monday it had bombed Kurdish militant bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, the latest such cross-border strike.