Israeli strikes pounded Gaza City overnight and into Sunday as ground forces battled Hamas militants near the territory's largest hospital, where health officials say thousands of medics, patients and displaced people are trapped with no electricity and dwindling supplies.

In a televised address on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all 239 hostages captured by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, saying Israel was bringing its "full force" to the battle.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Saturday on Islamic governments to designate Israel's military a "terrorist organization," citing its current operations in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's prime minister pushed back Saturday against calls from Western allies to do more to protect Palestinian civilians, as troops bombed and encircled Gaza's largest hospital where doctors said five patients died, including a premature baby, after the last generator ran out of fuel.

Israel has portrayed Shifa Hospital as Hamas' main command post, saying militants were using civilians as human shields there and had set up elaborate bunkers underneath it -- claims Hamas and Shifa staff deny. In recent days, fighting near Shifa and other hospitals in the combat zone of northern Gaza has intensified and supplies have run out.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop bombing civilians in Gaza, saying there was "no justification" and the deaths were causing "resentment".

In an interview with the BBC, Macron said Israel had the right to protect itself after the October 7 Hamas attacks, but he added: "These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed.

Arab and Muslim leaders on Saturday condemned Israeli forces' "barbaric" actions in Gaza but declined to approve punitive economic and political steps against Israel over its war against Hamas.

The outcome of a joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the Saudi capital highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the war even as fears mount that it could draw in other countries.

Israel's prime minister pushed back Saturday against growing calls from Western allies to do more to protect Palestinian civilians, as troops closed in on Gaza's largest hospital that Israel claims is Hamas' main command post but still hosts thousands of patients and people seeking shelter.

Benjamin Netanyahu said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas, repeating long-standing allegations that the militant group uses civilians in Gaza as human shields. He said that while Israel has urged civilians to leave combat zones, "Hamas is doing everything it can to prevent them from leaving."

“Consensus” has been reached on the release of a number of Palestinian women and child prisoners in return for 100 women and a child held captive by Hamas, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television reported on Friday.

Complicating Israel's military push inside the Gaza Strip is the fate of around 240 hostages abducted on October 7.

Hezbollah said Friday that seven of its fighters have been killed, but didn't specify where they died other than to say that they were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem.”

A Hezbollah official and a Lebanese security official said the seven fighters were killed in neighboring Syria Friday morning. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Israel's military said Friday it struck an organization in Syria that was behind a drone crash into a school in southern Israel a day earlier.

"In response to a UAV (drone) from Syria that hit a school in Eilat, the IDF (Israeli army) struck the organization that carried out the attack," the Israeli army said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israel’s labor minister says Benjamin Netanyahu will have to call early elections right after the war.

Labor Minister Yoav Bentzur made the unusually public suggestion in remarks quoted Thursday by the Maariv daily.