An early morning strike by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank killed six Palestinians, while an Israeli police officer died when a roadside bomb hit her vehicle Sunday, sources on both sides said.

Violence in the West Bank since the start of Israel's war with Gaza-based Hamas militants has surged to levels unseen in nearly two decades. Israeli forces carry out regular raids in the occupied territory, especially in the militant stronghold of Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that Turkey is committed to playing "a positive, productive" role for postwar Gaza and prepared to use its influence in the region to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from broadening even more.

The latest Mideast mission by America's top diplomat opened with talks in Turkey and Greece before shifting to the region for "not necessarily easy conversations" with allies and partners about what they are willing to do "to build durable peace and security."

Israel said it had "dismantled" Hamas' military leadership in northern Gaza as its war against the Palestinian group entered a fourth month Sunday, with fears mounting that the conflict could spread into neighboring Lebanon.

Israel carried out air strikes in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis early Sunday.

Israel bombed southern Gaza early Saturday as the U.N. warned the besieged Palestinian territory has been rendered "uninhabitable" by three months of war.

The fighting, triggered by the October 7 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants, has sent tensions soaring across the region, and shows no signs of abating as the conflict slides into its fourth month on Sunday.

An armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a "couple of miles" of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels in the Red Sea before detonating, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Iran-backed militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East, said Thursday it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. They have, however, used them in years past.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani said on Friday he was determined to "put an end" to the international anti-jihadist coalition in his country, after a U.S. strike in Baghdad killed a pro-Iran commander.

Sudani, whose government relies on support from Tehran-aligned parties, has repeatedly said in recent weeks he would like to see foreign troops leave Iraq.

The Palestinian resistance has lost only 10% of its capabilities since the outbreak of fighting, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said.

In an interview with Egypt-based weekly political magazine Rose al-Yūsuf, Berri said that the Israeli army will not achieve its goal to eliminate Hamas.

As the Biden administration grapples with an increasingly tense and unstable situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the region this weekend for the fourth time in three months on a tour expected to focus largely on easing resurgent fears that the Israel-Hamas war could erupt into a broader conflict.

With international criticism of Israel's operations in Gaza mounting, growing U.S. concerns about the end game, and more immediate worries about a recent explosion in attacks in the Red Sea, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, Blinken will have a packed and difficult agenda. He leaves just days after a suspected Israeli attack killed a senior Hamas leader in Beirut and, while a White House spokesman said "nobody should be shedding a tear" over his death, it could further complicate Blinken's mission.

Israel's defense minister has laid out his vision for the next phase of the war in Gaza, describing how Israeli forces would shift to an apparently scaled-down "new combat approach" in northern Gaza, while continuing to fight Hamas in the south of the territory "for as long as necessary."

Ahead of a visit by the U.S. secretary of state, Yoav Gallant also outlined a proposal for how Gaza would be run once Hamas is defeated, with Israel keeping security control while an undefined, Israeli-guided Palestinian body runs day-to-day administration, and the U.S. and other countries oversee rebuilding.

Israel appears far from achieving its goals of crushing Hamas and freeing an estimated 129 hostages still held in Gaza nearly three months after the group's surprise cross-border attack and the Israeli government's declaration of war.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says several thousand Hamas fighters remain in northern Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been blasted into rubble. Heavy fighting is also underway in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli officials say Hamas’ military structure is still largely intact.