The Israeli military warned on Friday it would operate with "unprecedented force" in Gaza City, telling residents to flee southwards as it presses its ground offensive on the territory's largest urban center.

Israel has pummeled Gaza City with strikes and tank fire in its bid to seize it, nearly two years into the war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.

The European Union proposed Friday to bring forward a ban on Russian gas imports as part of a new package of sanctions aimed at sapping Moscow's war chest -- and pleasing U.S. President Donald Trump.

Under the measures presented for approval by the bloc's member states, the European Commission said it aims to phase out liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases from Russia by January 2027 -- one year earlier than planned.

The Lebanese army, tasked to draw up a plan to disarm Hezbollah, said Thursday that the Israeli strikes on south Lebanon risk slowing down Hezbollah's disarmament.

"These assaults and violations obstruct the army's deployment in the south, and their continuation will hinder the implementation of its plan starting from the area south of the Litani River," the army said in a statement, adding that the attacks brought Israel's ceasefire "violations" to 4,500.

President Joseph Aoun has condemned the Israeli air strikes on five towns in southern Lebanon and "the silence of the countries who had sponsored" the ceasefire, which he said "encourages further aggression".

"The time has come to put an immediate end to these blatant violations of Lebanon's sovereignty," he said.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday slammed Israel’s disregard for the ceasefire mechanism, urging the international community to exert utmost pressure on Israel to halt its attacks, after Israeli strikes targeted three southern towns following evacuation warnings.

"Lebanon calls on the international community, and particularly the countries that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, to exert maximum pressure on Israel to immediately halt its attacks," Salam said amidst a cabinet meeting.

A shooting at a border crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Jordan on Thursday killed two men, Israeli medics and the military said.

The two men, about 20 and 60 years of age, who were wounded in the shooting at the Allenby crossing were later pronounced dead, Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom said.

Syria will strike several security and military agreements with Israel by the end of the year, a foreign ministry official told AFP on Thursday.

"There is progress in the talks with Israel," said the official who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to brief the media, adding that several agreements are expected to be signed "by the end of the year".

The World Health Organization chief warned Thursday that Israel's ground offensive in northern Gaza had left already overwhelmed hospitals on the "brink of collapse" and demanded an "end to these inhumane conditions".

"The military incursion and evacuation orders in northern Gaza are driving new waves of displacement, forcing traumatized families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, warning that "hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse as escalating violence blocks access and prevents WHO from delivering lifesaving supplies".

Syria's foreign minister is heading to Washington on Thursday, a foreign ministry source told AFP, in the first such visit in more than 25 years.

"Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani will travel to Washington to discuss the lifting of the remaining sanctions," the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media.

An Israeli strike on the eastern city of Baalbek has killed at least two people, the health ministry said.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Wednesday that the strike was carried out by an Israeli drone.