Iran on Wednesday hanged at least 29 convicts in a single day, including 26 in a group execution in one prison, a rights group said, a day after facing international condemnation for executing a man in connection with 2022 protests.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights said 26 men were executed in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj outside Tehran, while three other men were executed in Karaj's city prison.

Those executed, who included two Afghan nationals, had been convicted of murder, drug-related and rape charges.

Batoul and her family have been scrambling to secure housing outside Beirut's southern suburbs where an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander last week, but spiking demand has sent prices soaring.

Many in the southern suburbs -- a packed residential area known as Dahiyeh which is also a Hezbollah bastion -- have been trying to leave, fearing full-blown war between the Iran-backed group and Israel in the wake of the commander's killing.

Israelis railed against new Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday, with some hoping he will meet the same fate as his predecessor who was killed last week.

Near Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square, whose circular fountain is ringed with tributes to Israel's Gaza hostages and war dead, Sinwar's appointment was met with disquiet.

The Palestinian movement's Gaza chief, an alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, was named as the movement's head late on Tuesday after Ismail Haniyeh's killing in Tehran.

War-weary Gazans voiced concern on Wednesday after Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new supremo, fearing his past as the movement's military commander might hamper efforts for the ceasefire they yearn for.

"We don't know how Hamas is thinking or what led them to choose Yahya Sinwar as their chief, especially when his whereabouts are unknown", 29-year-old Mohammad al-Sharif told AFP in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.

Iran faced condemnation from human rights groups Wednesday over its execution of a man convicted of killing a Revolutionary Guard in 2022 protests, with activists saying his confession had been obtained by torture.

Gholamreza Rasaei, in his mid-thirties, is the 10th man executed by Iran in connection with the months-long protests that erupted in September 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The Iranian Kurd had been arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

Israel has vowed to eliminate new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, with regional hostilities threatening to boil over as the Gaza war enters its 11th month.

The naming of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group came as Israel steeled itself for potential Iranian retaliation over the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.

Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "determined" to defend itself.

With much of Gaza reduced to rubble by 10 months of war, counting the dead has become a challenge for the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, as the death toll nears 40,000.

Israel has repeatedly questioned the credibility of the daily figures put out by the ministry and US President Joe Biden did so too in the early stages of the war.

But several United Nations agencies that operate in Gaza have said the figures are credible and they are frequently cited by international organisations.

- Data collection -

Sheltering under a palm tree in Saudi Arabia's capital, a Pakistani delivery driver stole a quick break during the lunch rush when orders -- and scorching temperatures -- are at their peak.

Gulping a bottle of cold water as the mercury neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), the motorcycle driver said he was well aware the Gulf kingdom's harsh summer heat could be fatal.

Yet only by pushing through and filling the daily blitz of food orders will he earn enough money to send something back home, his main reason for coming to Saudi Arabia in the first place.

A Saudi Arabian woman appears to have been abducted from Australia and flown to the Gulf state, her lawyer has told AFP, saying she fears her client is in detention.

Lolita Safeeraldeen arrived in Australia in 2022 and stopped responding to messages in May 2023 while in Melbourne, said her human rights lawyer, Alison Battisson.

Battisson said she initially hoped her client was hiding elsewhere in Australia.

But a year later, she has been told Safeeraldeen is back in Saudi Arabia, raising concern that her client was removed from Australia against her will.

Both Iran and Israel should avoid escalating conflict, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, in his most direct wording toward US ally Israel on the Middle East's spiraling tensions.

"No one should escalate this conflict. We've been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel," Blinken told reporters.

Iran has vowed a response after Israel was suspected of killing Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.