Qatar, a mediator in the Gaza war, said on Thursday there was no direct link between talks for a truce in Gaza and an international push for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel.

"I'm not aware of a direct link, but obviously both mediations are hugely overlapping when you are talking about the same parties, for the most part, that are taking part," foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters.

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Wednesday of the possibility of an "all-out war" in the Middle East as Israel put troops on alert for possible entry into Lebanon and the war in Gaza grinds on.

"An all-out war is possible," Biden told ABC chat show "The View." "What I think is, also, the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region."

The United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank have called for the Palestinian Authority to have a postwar role in Gaza in an administration united with the West Bank.

The three bodies released a postwar recovery strategy Wednesday that provided few details on how the war-ravaged territory would be governed or rebuilt.

As Israeli bombs flattened buildings and sent smoke billowing skywards over Lebanon this week, Gazans looked on with both empathy and fear over how the widening war might affect them.

Israel carried out a third day of air strikes against Lebanon on Wednesday, saying it was targeting weapons caches and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah.

From the dais of the U.N. General Assembly just a year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu triumphantly hailed a new peace he said would sweep through the Middle East. A year later, as he travels back to that same world stage, that vision is in tatters.

The devastating war in Gaza is about to hit the one-year mark. Israel is on the cusp of a wider regional war with Hezbollah. And the country finds itself increasingly isolated internationally and led by a polarizing leader whose handling of the conflict has sparked protests both in global capitals and on the streets of his own country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed his departure for the U.N. General Assembly in New York, his office said Wednesday, as the army pounds Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu will leave for his speech at the U.N. tomorrow (Thursday), instead of tonight, and will return on Saturday night," his office said. "During the day, the prime minister will hold consultations to discuss the continuation of the attacks in Lebanon."

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged a diplomatic solution as Israel strikes Hezbollah targets, warning against a "full-scale war" in Lebanon.

"Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible," Biden said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denounced the United Nations' "inaction" against Israel, describing it as "senseless and incomprehensible", amid surging tensions across the Middle East.

"In my meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, I said the UN inaction against the crimes of the occupying regime is senseless and incomprehensible," he said in a post on social media platform X, adding that "I expressed my deep concern about the spread of the conflict in the entire Middle East."

As the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah grabs global attention, Palestinians in Gaza wonder: What will become of their plight after nearly a year of devastating war?

They are petrified that international concern has been diverted, and that a dark possibility looms: abandonment.

World leaders will open their annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday under the shadow of increasing global divisions, major wars in Gaza, Ukraine and, Sudan and the threat of an even larger conflict in the wider Middle East.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres previewed his opening "State of the World" speech to presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers at Sunday's "Summit of the Future," saying "our world is heading off the rails — and we need tough decisions to get back on track."