The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has denounced Israeli strikes on southern Gaza, urging the world not to "remain silent in the face of this endless massacre."

"The most recent bombing in the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people, is unacceptable," read a statement from the presidency.

Israel hammered the Gaza Strip from the air, sea and land Monday as the war in the Palestinian territory showed no sign of abating, with Hamas saying it was pulling out of truce talks.

Shells rained down on the neighborhoods of Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin and Al-Sabra in Gaza City, AFP correspondents reported, while eyewitnesses said the Israeli army had shelled the Al-Mughraqa area and the northern outskirts of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

A suspected attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea on Monday, as a new U.S. aircraft carrier approached the region to provide security for the key international trade route that has been under assault since the Israel-Hamas war erupted nine months ago.

The captain of the ship reported being attacked by three small vessels, two of which were crewed and another uncrewed, off the coast of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.

Syrians were voting for members of a new parliament in an election Monday that was expected to hold few surprises but could pave the way for a constitutional amendment to extend the term of President Bashar Assad.

The vote is the fourth in Syria since mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces spiraled into an ongoing civil war in 2011.

Hamas said that Gaza cease-fire talks were ongoing and the group's military commander was in good health, a day after the Israeli military targeted Mohammed Deif with a massive airstrike that local health officials said killed at least 90 people, including children.

Deif's condition was still unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night "there still isn't absolute certainty" he was killed. Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told journalists Israel attacked a compound where Deif "was hiding" but added: "It's still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide."

The new British foreign secretary has called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, his second international trip since Labour's resounding victory in elections earlier this month.

David Lammy said Sunday the ongoing war in Gaza is "intolerable" and stressed in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leadership that Britain wants to assist with diplomatic efforts "securing a cease-fire deal and creating the space for a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution."

A Syrian soldier was killed early on Sunday and three others injured in Israeli strikes on several positions in and around Damascus, Syrian state media said.

A Hamas official on Sunday said the group is pulling out of Gaza truce talks, following an Israeli strike that targeted the militants' commander Mohammed Deif, who was "fine" despite the attack according to another Hamas figure.

An Israeli official has confirmed that Mohammad Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing, was the target of Saturday's Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, said Rafa Salama, another top Hamas official, was also targeted in the strike.

The United Nations chief has appealed for funding for the beleaguered U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, accusing Israel of issuing evacuation orders that force Palestinians "to move like human pinballs across a landscape of destruction and death."

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a donor's conference that the agency, known as UNRWA, faces "a profound funding gap."