US Vice-President Kamala Harris called Sunday for a proposed six-week ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war to be accepted, while criticizing Israel over insufficient aid deliveries into Gaza.

"Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table," Harris said during a speech in Selma, Alabama.

Her comments were the strongest to date by a US administration official on Israel since the war started, as President Joe Biden comes under acute pressure over his support for Israel and the civilian death toll in Gaza soars.

A senior US official said Saturday that Israel had broadly accepted the deal, which would see a six-week cessation of hostilities if Hamas agrees to release the most vulnerable hostages it holds.

The deal "will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid in," Harris said, calling on Hamas to accept the deal.

"Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal."

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the death of around 1,160 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, with around 250 people believed to have been taken hostage.

The Israeli army says 130 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 31 are believed to be dead.

Israel's military response has claimed 30,410 deaths, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas government's Ministry of Health.

In unusually strong language, Harris called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to increase aid into Gaza.

"The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses," Harris said.

She added that Israel "must open new border crossings" and "must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid."

- Gantz in Washington -

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made similar remarks in a post on X, saying "It is imperative that we expand the flow of aid into Gaza to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation."

He added: "People urgently need more food, water, and other assistance. That's why the US is working to get more aid in through every available channel, including air drops." These started Saturday.

Harris is due to meet with Benny Gantz, a centrist member of Israel's war cabinet, in Washington on Monday.

"The vice president's meeting is part of our continued efforts to engage with a wide range of Israeli officials on the war in Gaza and planning for the day after," a White House official said Sunday.

The former Israeli military chief, a long-time rival of Netanyahu, will also meet White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Blinken, according to US officials.

"Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed," Harris said, highlighting the deaths on Thursday in chaotic scenes around a convoy of aid trucks.

People "simply trying to secure food for their families after weeks of nearly no aid reaching northern Gaza... were met with gunfire and chaos," said Harris, adding: "Our hearts break for the victims of that horrific tragedy."

"The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated."

Harris delivered her remarks at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where a march by hundreds of peaceful activists was violently suppressed by police on March 7, 1965.

The event, known as "Bloody Sunday," further catalyzed support for Black rights and helped lead a few months later to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, a federal law prohibiting racial discrimination in voting.

Swiss police step up security after stabbing of Jew

Swiss police stepped up security Sunday and protesters marched in Zurich after an Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed in a possible anti-Semitic attack by a teenager.

Demonstrators marched from the leafy, residential District 2, where the attack took place late Saturday, to Helvetiaplatz in the city centre to hold an evening vigil, the ATS-Keystone news agency reported.

Many were carrying yellow umbrellas symbolising the fight against anti-Semitism.

Earlier Sunday, Zurich police said they were increasing security around Jewish institutions in the city following the attack in which the 50-year-old Jewish man was "critically injured".

A 15-year-old Swiss boy suspected of carrying out the attack was arrested at the scene, police said.

A photographer working for AFP saw police officers stationed outside the Agudas Achim synagogue in Zurich.

A police statement said the motives for the attack remained unclear. But officers and the youth prosecutor's office in charge of the investigation are looking into the possibility that it was an "anti-Semitic crime".

After consulting with Jewish institutions in the city, police said they had decided to increase security as a "precautionary measure".

- 'Profoundly shocked' -

The Swiss Federation of Israelite Communities (SIG) said Sunday evening that it was "profoundly shocked" that such an attack happened in Switzerland.

"For the time being, we do not think there is an imminent danger for Jewish persons or institutions," it said, while calling on all members of the Jewish community to be vigilant.

The GRA Foundation Against racism and anti-Semitism condemned the attack, saying that witnesses had heard the alleged perpetrator shout "anti-Semitic slogans that suggest a hate crime".

"It was not just an isolated case," it said in a statement. "Since the escalation in the Middle East, anti-Semitic incidents in Switzerland have skyrocketed."

Anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes have been on the rise in many countries since Hamas militants from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack inside Israel on October 7.

That attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. It also saw the militants abduct 250 hostages, of whom 130 remain in captivity, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel.

Israel's retaliatory offensive against the Palestinian territory has killed more than 30,400 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.