Israeli President Isaac Herzog was due to end a contentious four-day visit to Australia on Thursday that brought comfort to Sydney's Jewish community traumatized by a recent antisemitic mass shooting, but also attracted large-scale demonstrations protesting the civilian toll of the Gaza war.

Herzog has been dogged by protesters who label him a war criminal as he visited Sydney, the national capital Canberra and Melbourne in the first Australian visit by an Israeli head of state in six years.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Wednesday that talks with Iran must continue, rebuffing the Israeli prime minister's push for a tougher stance against Tehran.

"There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated," Trump said on social media after their three-hour meeting.

China said on Thursday it opposed "all attempts to annex" Palestinian territories, days after Israel's security cabinet approved measures to tighten control over the occupied West Bank.

"China has always opposed the construction of new settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and opposed all attempts to annex or encroach upon Palestinian territory," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference.

Germany on Wednesday criticized Israeli plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank as "a further step towards de facto annexation", as international anger mounts over the move.

"Israel remains an occupying power in the West Bank, and as an occupying power it is a violation of international law to build settlements, including transferring certain administrative functions to civilian Israeli authorities," a German foreign ministry spokesman said in Berlin.

Australia is demanding criminal charges over a 2024 Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker, the country's prime minister said Wednesday in a case that has drawn sweeping condemnation and strained relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed the request to visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting earlier in the day.

Crouching amid a pile of rubble that used to be his Gaza home, Mahmoud Hammad scoops dirt into a large sieve and shakes it, looking carefully before dumping it out.

In recent days, he was lucky. Tiny bones appeared.

An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians on bicycles Tuesday, hospital officials said, marking the latest deaths since an October ceasefire that hasn't halted deadly attacks in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the two men were hit near the ceasefire line that divides Gaza, with one half under Israeli military control. They were hit in eastern Deir al-Balah, the hospital said, adding that it also received the body of a woman who was killed by Israeli gunfire in central Maghazi refugee camp.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will push Donald Trump on Wednesday to take a tougher stance in nuclear talks with Iran, after rushing to Washington to stiffen the U.S. president's resolve.

Trump said on the eve of the hastily arranged White House meeting -- set to begin at 11:00 am local time (1600 GMT)-- that he was weighing sending a second U.S. "armada" to the Middle East to pressure Tehran to reach a nuclear deal.

Qatar's ruler discussed regional de-escalation on a call with US President Donald Trump and later met with Iran's top security official, the emir's office said in two separate statements on Wednesday.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Trump focused on "the current situation in the region and international efforts aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace", one statement said.

The U.S.-led international coalition to fight the Islamic State group has welcomed Syria in the fight against the extremists, saying that the priorities include the swift transfer of IS detainees to Iraq and third-country repatriation of families linked to IS held in two camps in Syria.

The State Department also welcomed a recent ceasefire that ended fighting between Syrian government forces and the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that were a main force in the fight against IS in Syria.