US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit to Israel on Friday, US State Department said on Tuesday. This will be Blinken's second visit to Israel since war began.
"Secretary Blinken will travel to Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, and then will make other stops in the region," US State Department spokesman said in his statement.
The visit comes as Israel intensifies its ground offensive in Gaza amid deepening humanitarian crisis.
Earlier On Tuesday, Isareli military carried out air strikes on densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing dozens of people.
Israel also claimed that the top commander of Hamas, who was involved in October 7 attack, was also killed in air strike on Gaza.
Hamas, however, dismissed Israel's claim and said that no one of its leaders was present in the camp during the attack.
According to Gaza health ministry, more than 8,000 people have been killed, mostly children and women, in Israeli bombardments since war began on October 7.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
Israel's defence and finance ministers clashed on Wednesday over whether some West Bank tax revenues should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, underlining the tensions straining the government as Israeli forces push on with the war in Gaza.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called for tax revenues collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians in parts of the West Bank under direct Israeli control, to be disbursed without delay.
"The State of Israel is interested in maintaining stability in Judea and Samaria, always and especially during these times," Gallant said in televised remarks, using the term used by many in Israel to refer to the West Bank, where there has been a sharp rise in violence since the war with Hamas began three weeks ago.
Pope Francis said on Wednesday a two-state solution was needed for Israel and Palestine in order to put an end to wars such as the current one and called for a special status for Jerusalem.
In an interview with Italian state television RAI's TG1 news channel, Francis also said he hoped a regional escalation could be avoided in the conflict that began when Hamas militants entered Israel, killing some 1,400 Israelis, mainly civilians, and taking about 230 hostages.
Israel-Hamas War: US Believes Hamas Cannot Govern Gaza In FutureThe United States does not believe the pro-Iranian Palestinian militant group Hamas can be involved in the future governance of the Gaza Strip when the war with Israel is over, the White House said on Wednesday.
The United States on Wednesday called violence by West Bank settlers in tandem with the Israel-Hamas war "incredibly destabilizing" and urged Israel to rein them in.
Settler violence in the West Bank is "incredibly destabilizing and counterproductive to Israel's long-term security in addition to, of course, being extremely harmful to the Palestinians living in the West Bank," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip's largest refugee camp "could amount to war crimes", the UN Human Rights Office said on Wednesday.
"Given the high number of civilian casualties & the scale of destruction following Israeli air strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes," the office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7 has left 116 children from 59 families orphaned, according to data presented to the Knesset's Labor and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.
"The State of Israel has not faced such a situation since its establishment, neither in numbers nor in substance. There is no need to explain the importance of sensitivity when it comes to the treatment of those children. As a committee, we intend to accompany the responsible parties, to assist and be at their disposal for any need that comes their way," said committee chair MK Israel Eichler.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Jordan, whose relations with Israel have sharply deteriorated over the Gaza war, on a new crisis trip, the State Department said Wednesday.
The top US diplomat will visit Jordan after previously announced talks on Friday in Israel, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Israel's air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, his spokesman said Wednesday.
"The Secretary-General is appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza, including the killing of Palestinians, including women and children in Israeli airstrikes in residential areas of the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
The UN child rights committee said there were "no winners in a war where thousands of children are killed", as they condemned mounting "grave human rights violations" in the Gaza Strip.
"The committee calls for an end to the devastating harm being wreaked on children's lives in the occupied Palestinian territory. We add our voice to those calling for an immediate ceasefire. We urge the immediate release of child hostages, with their caregivers," the independent committee, which monitors countries' adherence to the children's rights convention, said in a statement.
"Lives Of Patients Threatened": Gaza's Only Cancer Hospital Goes Out Of ServiceThe only cancer treatment hospital in the Gaza Strip has gone out of service after it ran out of fuel, health officials said today.
Fifteen Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza since Tuesday, a spokesman for the country's military told AFP.
Israeli troops have been fighting Hamas militants on the ground since Friday, backed by heavy air strikes which have killed multiple civilians in the Palestinian territory.
"Dozens Killed" In New Gaza Refugee Camp Strike, Says HamasGaza's Hamas-run health ministry said a second Israeli bombing raid in two days had killed and wounded "dozens" Wednesday at the territory's biggest refugee camp, Jabalia.
Jordan said it would "immediately" recall its ambassador to Israel in protest at the war against Gaza's Hamas rulers trigged by the militant group's October 7 attacks.
"Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi decided to immediately recall Jordan's ambassador to Israel," the foreign ministry said, adding that the move was "to condemn the Israeli war that is killing innocent people in Gaza".
The World Health Organization welcomed Wednesday's first evacuations of wounded patients out of the Gaza Strip, but stressed that thousands of injured civilians and people with chronic illnesses also needed treatment.
Ambulances transported wounded residents out of the Palestinian enclave for urgent medical care in neighbouring Egypt.
A first group of foreigners and dual nationals fleeing war-torn Gaza arrived in Egypt, mostly women and children, an Egyptian official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Parents with strollers and elderly people were seen among those getting off a bus on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in footage broadcast by an Egyptian TV channel close to the intelligence services.
Turkey and Iran called for a regional conference aimed at averting the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
"We do not want the human tragedy in Gaza to turn into a war that affects the region's countries," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a joint media appearance with Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who urged the meeting to be held "as soon as possible".
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Wednesday 8,796 people have been killed since the war with Israel erupted on October 7.
The death toll includes 3,648 children while 22,219 people have been wounded, a health ministry statement said.
First Ambulances Carrying Wounded Palestinians From Gaza Enter Egypt Through Rafah CrossingThe first ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians from war-torn Gaza entered Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
