LIVE | Trump announces 2-week ceasefire, says Iran agreed to open Hormuz

An Israel-backed armed group in Gaza kidnapped children from a school-turned-shelter on Monday, according to a witness, after which Israel launched an airstrike on the site, health authorities said.

An anti-Hamas Palestinian group called Abu Nusseirah posted on social media that they killed five Hamas fighters at the shelter in Maghazi.

An elderly displaced woman sheltering at the school told the AP that dozens of men stormed the site, clashed with people there and forced kids - including girls - into vehicles. Speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, she said her son was killed in the fighting.

Bodies were taken to al-Aqsa hospital, where health officials said some had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the school after the clashes. AP footage showed dozens of mourners gathered at the morgue.

Many displaced Palestinians say they fear the Iran war has overshadowed Gaza's dire humanitarian situation.

Those injured were the weapon systems officer from the US Air Force F-15E fighter jet that was shot down in Iran late last week as well as two aircrewmen from a helicopter that took fire during the initial rescue for the pilot from the downed jet.

That's according to a US official, who spoke to AP on Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military operation.

After rescuing the pilot, the HH-60 Jolly Green II helicopters were “engaged by every single person in Iran who had a small arms weapon, and one of the aircraft, the trailing aircraft, took several hits,” said Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At a White House briefing, Trump said the jet's downed weapons officer was “bleeding profusely” but still able climb mountainous terrain and communicate his location.

The US and Egypt are pushing Israel not to strike the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing, according to Lebanon's General Security chief, Hassan Choucair.

He those “ongoing contacts” by Washington and Cairo aim to protect and reopen the Masnaa border crossing.

It's been closed since Saturday after Israel warned it could be targeted over alleged weapons smuggling by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Officials in Lebanon and Syria deny that claim, saying vehicles are thoroughly inspected.

The crossing's closure has forced travellers to take a longer northern route. More than 200,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria since the war escalated five weeks ago, many of them fleeing the conflict.

The United States relied on dozens of aircraft, hundreds of personnel, secret CIA technology and a dose of subterfuge to rescue a two-man F-15E fighter jet crew downed deep inside Iran.

Trump and his top defence aides detailed the daring rescue operation in an unusual level of detail during a news conference at the White House on Monday.

The US surged helicopters, midair refuellers and fighter jets deep into Iran to rescue the pilot within hours. But finding and picking up the jet's weapon systems officer was a more complicated endeavour.