Palestinian prime minister says US must seek a 2-state solution. Israel vows to fight

New Delhi: The Palestinian prime minister said in an interview Thursday that the Biden administration must now "walk the walk" and take specific steps toward what has been an elusive two-state solution, including by applying pressure on Israel. But in Israel, the defense minister said destroying Hamas will take several more months.

The United States has shielded Israel against growing international calls for an immediate cease-fire, but is publicly disagreeing with its close ally on a post-war scenario.

Israel has drawn international outrage and rare criticism from the U.S. over the killing of civilians. More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people mostly civilians and taking about 240 hostages.

Here's what's happening in the war:

A missile fired from rebel-controlled Yemen misses a container ship in the bab el-Mandeb strait

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile Thursday that missed a container ship traveling through the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the U.S. military said, the latest attack threatening shipping in the crucial maritime chokepoint.

The seaborne assaults by the Iran-backed Houthis have been part of their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. In recent days, they have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel, though several vessels targeted had no apparent link.

The missile fired Thursday splashed harmlessly in the water near the Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged container ship that had been traveling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. military's Central Command said.

Later Thursday, a Houthi military spokesperson claimed without offering evidence that the rebels had hit the Maersk Gibraltar with a drone strike, after its crew failed to respond to the rebels' call to surrender. The spokesperson for the Iran-backed fighters, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, also alleged the vessel had been heading to Israel again without providing evidence to support the claim.

U.S. and Israeli officials discuss phasing and strategy of military operations in Gaza

WASHINGTON White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan in his talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior Israeli officials on Thursday spent time discussing the "phasing" of Israel's operations, including how the Israelis expect the fighting to play out in the weeks ahead and going into January, according to a senior Biden administration official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.

The official added that the U.S. and Israeli officials agreed that there would a point in which there is a shift from the current high-intensity operations to a more targeted surgical operations on high-value targets, specific military infrastructure, and other narrower targets. The official pushed back on reports that the Biden White House wants to see major operations completed by the end of the month, but declined to provide a timetable.

The talks also covered the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the ongoing threat of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea coming from Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the posture of Iranian proxy groups through the region.

The official said Sullivan during his talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday is expected to focus on the Palestinian security forces, efforts to rein in Israeli settler violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank, and revitalizing the Palestinian Authority.

The U.S. is exploring having security personnel associated with the Palestinian Authority help restore public safety in Gaza if Israel is successful of removing Hamas from control of the territory.

The official said Sullivan and other officials have discussed the prospect of having those associated with the Palestinian Authority security forces before Hamas took over the territory in 2006 serve as the "nucleus" of post-war peacekeeping in Gaza. The official said it was one idea of many being considered for establishing security in Gaza for Palestinians. The official said those talks are taking place with Israel, the Palestinian Authority and regional partners.

U.S. National Security Advisor will meet with Palestinian President

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will visit Ramallah tomorrow to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, according to a Biden administration official.

The official said Sullivan and Abbas will discuss ongoing efforts to promote stability in the West Bank, including through efforts to confront terrorism, support for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces through the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, ongoing efforts to revamp and revitalize the Palestinian Authority, and initiatives to hold extremist settlers accountable for violence against Palestinians.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the yet-to-be formally announced visit.

Netanyahu says Red Cross should pressure Hamas into allowing officials to check on hostages

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross during a meeting Thursday to discuss the fate of over 100 Israeli hostages believed to be in Hamas captivity.

Netanyahu called on Mirjana Spoljaric to put more public pressure on Hamas, which has refused to allow the Red Cross to visit the hostages or deliver medicines to them. The hostages were captured in an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas.

Spoljaric has publicly called on Hamas to allow visits to the hostages and to release them immediately. She is in Israel meeting the country's leaders and relatives of the captive Israelis.

"You have every avenue, every right and every expectation to place public pressure on Hamas," Netanyahu said in a video of the meeting released by his office.

"It's not going to work," Spoljaric replied, saying public pressure would only harden Hamas' positions.

"Well I'm not sure about that," Netanyahu said.

"Yes, they would," Spoljaric replied.

"Well, why don't you try," Netanyahu responded.

Earlier, Israel's foreign minister, Eli Cohen, said: "If the Red Cross does not carry out its mission of providing life support and giving medicines to the kidnapped, it has no right to exist, and this is our demand from the Red Cross."

UN offcial urges Israel to allow more access to Gaza as many face starvation

A top official for the U.N. food agency is urging Israel to allow more access to the Gaza Strip and ensure security to deliver desperately needed aid, pointing to a survey during the recent seven-day pause in fighting that found half the territory's population starving.

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, told a U.N. press conference Thursday that commercial trucks should also start to return to Gaza where supermarkets and other stores are empty.

This would enable WFP to resume its pre-war cash voucher system which enabled Palestinians in Gaza to buy food and other essentials, he said.

Skau, who visited Gaza over the weekend, said the situation is "increasingly desperate and chaotic," with the U.N. unable to deliver food to the central or northern parts of the strip where Israel is conducting military operations.

"The grim reality is also that nine out of 10 people are not eating enough or not eating every day and don't know where the next meal is going to come from," he said.

People are desperate, frustrated and angry, and in Rafah in the south when there are aid deliveries, they try to grab as much as possible, "and this is becoming an increasing problem that there is a breakdown in law and order," Skau said.

He echoed U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths' warning that the humanitarian operation in Gaza is on the brink of collapse.

Sanders' senate resolution would track human rights violations in Gaza

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is introducing a resolution that would require the State Department to report on potential human rights violations by Israel's military actions in Gaza.

The resolution from Sanders, who is pushing President Joe Biden to support the UN call for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, would have the U.S. look into "credible allegations" of human rights violations, "caused by indiscriminate or disproportionate" military operations by Israel.

It's unclear if the resolution would have enough support to pass in the Senate. But as Congress debates a national security aid package, Sanders' resolution registers mounting concerns from a sizable number of Democrats in Congress who want the Biden administration to ensure Israel is limiting civilian casualties. Some lawmakers have said U.S. aid must be conditioned on reducing the civilian deaths.(AP)