The blame trading comes as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal that would free remaining hostages, after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.

The call by Israel's largest union to paralyze the economy follows a night of massive demonstrations, with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets in an outpouring of grief and fury over six hostages killed in the Gaza Strip.

Politicians expressed collective outrage over the deaths of the six hostages of Hamas, after they were discovered by Israeli forces.

Israel's war against Palestinian militant group Hamas has come under increasing scrutiny as the civilian death toll rises, but international powers including the United States have failed so far to help negotiate a ceasefire.

The operation was launched as violence raged on in the other main Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by war since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks.

Violence has surged in the West Bank during the Gaza conflict sparked by Islamist group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

The Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, has drawn in Tehran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East, repeatedly heightening fears of a broader regional conflagration.

Unrelenting air strikes by Israel more than 10 months into its war against Gaza rulers Hamas, restrictions of aid entering the besieged territory and hot summer temperatures all threaten the viability of a life-saving inoculation drive.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken appealed Tuesday to Hamas urgently to accept a ceasefire plan to ease suffering in Gaza but also entered a public spat with Israel as he capped a new round of shuttle diplomacy.

The strikes came more than 24 hours after Israel carried out similar raids deep inside east Lebanon and as tensions mounted in the wake of the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander.

The on-and-off truce talks reconvened in Qatar's capital on Thursday without Hamas, which has accused Israel of obstructing a deal and insists on the implementation of previously agreed terms.

The fact that Haifa's industrial area sits next to one of the largest ports in the eastern Mediterranean also stokes fears of environmental disaster

In a veiled warning to Iran, Hamas and Israel, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Wednesday said "no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach a deal," the US State Department said.

More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi strikes in Yemen, the State Department said it would return to weapons sales "in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation."

The Islamic republic and its allies have blamed Israel for Haniyeh's killing on July 31 during a visit to the Iranian capital for the swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not commented.

International mediators had invited Israel and Hamas to resume talks towards a long-sought truce and hostage-release deal, after the fighting in Gaza and the killings of Iran-aligned militant leaders sparked fears of a wider conflict.

After a week-long pause in November, US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have endeavoured to secure a second truce in the 10-month-old war sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.

The comment came a day after the US vice president was heckled by pro-Palestinian protesters at a rally for the first time since she became the Democratic candidate less than three weeks ago.

US President Joe Biden, whose country has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, held crisis talks on Monday with his national security team.

These bring to at least 11 the number of schools in Gaza to be struck since July 6, killing around 150 people, based on a tally of tolls previously given by officials in the Hamas-run territory.

On Wednesday, Iranian officials met in Tehran with representatives of the so-called "Axis of Resistance" -- a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel -- to discuss retaliation for the deaths of Hamas's leader and Hezbollah's top military commander, said a source close to Lebanese group.

The Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Qatar, having earlier threatened a "harsh punishment" for his killing.

The strike, which was followed by another, hours later, which killed Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, triggered fears the war in Gaza could escalate into a region-wide conflict.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei too threatened "harsh punishment" for Haniyeh's killing, saying: "We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood as he was martyred in the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Israeli civilians protested outside a military base where the nine soldiers were being held, while several others -- also in an attempt to show support -- broke into a detention facility where the alleged abuse occurred.

Israel vowed on Sunday to "hit the enemy hard" after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and fanned fears that the war in Gaza will spread.

It said the bodies of Maya Goren as well as soldiers Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski, along with Ravid Aryeh Katz and Oren Goldin -- military reservists -- had been returned to Israel following a rescue operation.

The agreement, signed by more than a dozen Palestinian factions on Tuesday, aims to find common ground for future Palestinian political institutions, which are currently divided between the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Across United States campuses and on the Democrats' left wing, calls to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza have reached unprecedented levels.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of deliberately undermining negotiations for a truce and hostage release deal because it did not want to end the war.