"Our support for Gaza and our defense of our country against the Zionist aggression against it has continued," a Houthi source told Newsweek.

Israeli troops entered southwestern Syria in the early hours of Thursday and arrested several people who the Israeli military said were members of Palestinian militant group Hamas but which Syria's interior ministry said were civilians.

The attack comes after decades of mutual hostility and a long-running shadow war of covert strikes and sabotage.

Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security.

Israel's leader says arming "clans in Gaza" to help fight Hamas will save lives. Opposition leaders say the weapons "will eventually be turned against" Israelis.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said Iran, its strategic ally, was "paying the price" for supporting militant groups in Gaza in their decades-long struggle against Israel, after Israel launched large-scale attacks on Friday against Iran.

The Israeli military recovered the body of de facto Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in a tunnel underneath the European Hospital in southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday.

The family of a Nepali man taken captive by the Palestinian militant group Hamas has appealed to his captors for his release, stressing that he has no involvement in the conflict in Gaza