International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi is set to visit Tehran on Wednesday for crucial talks on Iran's nuclear programme, warning just ahead of his trip that room for manoeuvre is narrowing.

His visit comes only two days after the defence minister of Iran's nemesis Israel warned the Islamic republic was "more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities".

Israel has long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.

A top UN official on Tuesday condemned "daily cruelty" in Gaza, describing "acts reminiscent of the gravest international crimes" as Israel continues its daily bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Speaking to the Security Council, Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), described civilians driven from their homes and "forced to witness their family members killed, burned and buried alive" in Gaza, which she called "a wasteland of rubble."

Saudi Arabia announced Tuesday that it was replacing the chief executive of its futuristic mega-city NEOM as scepticism mounts over the Gulf kingdom's most ambitious development projects.

"Following the departure of Nadhmi al-Nasr", who had served as the project's chief executive since 2018, "Aiman al-Mudaifer has been appointed as interim CEO", NEOM said in a statement.

The company said that Mudaifer brought with him a "deep and strategic understanding of NEOM" after serving as head of a property arm of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund since 2018.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he had nominated Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel under his incoming administration, putting a stalwart supporter of that country's government in a key role.

"Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years," Trump said in a statement, referring to the Christian pastor-turned-politician.

"He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him."

A federal jury on Tuesday ordered a US defense contractor to pay $42 million in damages to three Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison, their lawyers said.

CACI Premier Technology Inc was found liable at the conclusion of a long-running trial for its role in the torture of the three men at the notorious prison in 2003 and 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights said.

Suhail Al Shimari, a middle school principal, Asa'ad Zuba'e, a fruit vendor, and Salah Al-Ejaili, a journalist, were each awarded $14 million in damages, the center said in a statement.

The United States said Tuesday that Israel was not violating US law on the level of aid entering Gaza even as aid agencies said it was still not enough.

Israel had announced the opening of an additional aid crossing into Gaza, just hours before the deadline set by outgoing President Joe Biden's administration to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to military assistance.

Gaza has been in the grips of a dire humanitarian crisis since the outbreak of war following Hamas's unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Rocket fire from Lebanon on Tuesday killed two residents of the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, the municipality said.

This is "a difficult and painful evening in Nahariya", the municipality said in a statement, naming the two men as Ziv Belfer, 52, and Shimon Najam, 54.

"The two were pronounced dead on the spot, near a warehouse that received a direct hit," it added.

AFP images showed black smoke rising from a fire in the warehouse.

Dor Vakinin, a first responder at the scene following the attack, said emergency teams arrived "quickly" to provide assistance.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Tuesday that "the margins for manoeuvre are beginning to shrink" on Iran's nuclear programme ahead of an important trip to Tehran.

"The Iranian administration must understand that the international situation is becoming increasingly tense and that the margins to manoeuvre are beginning to shrink, and that it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions," Rafael Grossi, told AFP in an interview at the COP29 climate summit in Baku.

Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed 33 people across the country on Tuesday, among them many who had been displaced by the intensified conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The attacks targeted not only known Hezbollah strongholds such as the southern suburbs of Beirut, but also areas where the Iran-backed group has not traditionally had a presence.

The health ministry said a strike on a town in the Chouf region south of Beirut killed at least 15 people, revising a previous toll upwards from 12.

A day after Israeli warplanes flattened their building, Lebanese residents helped rescuers scour the rubble for survivors, still reeling from the rare strike in the country's far north.

The bombing killed at least eight people in Ain Yaacoub, one of the northernmost villages Israel has struck, far from Lebanon's war-ravaged southern border.

"They hit a building where more than 30 people lived without any evacuation warning," said Mustafa Hamza, who lives near the site of the strike. "It's an indescribable massacre."