Western allies seek rapid end to Gaza war as Israel presses on

ABU DHABI/CAIRO — The United States and its allies in the Group of Seven (G-7) are seeking a quick way out of the military phase of the Gaza conflict, Italy said on Jan 8, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his European Union and German counterparts toured the region.

Blinken was holding talks on Gaza in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Jan 8 before heading to Israel, aiming to kick-start concerted peace efforts that he says are needed to avoid a wider conflagration.

He began a five-day Middle East diplomatic effort in Jordan and Qatar on Jan 7, his fourth visit to the region since the deadly Oct 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants in Gaza sparked a massive Israeli assault that shows no signs of ending.

Other Iranian-backed militant groups have weighed in, attacking Israeli forces on the border with Lebanon, US troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Israel has also cracked down on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was in Israel on Jan 8, and the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell was in Lebanon in a sign of international concern.

"G-7 countries are working with the Israeli government to find a rapid way out of the military phase," the Italian Foreign Ministry quoted its minister, Antonio Tajani, as saying as Italy began its one-year presidency of the G-7.

An Israeli strike in south Lebanon on Jan 8 killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force, three security sources told Reuters, the latest in daily clashes across Israel's northern border.

Baerbock told Israel that it had a duty to protect Palestinians in the West Bank after Blinken sounded the wider alarm in Doha on Jan 7.

"This is a conflict that could easily metastasise," Blinken said before heading to Abu Dhabi.

Israel outlined a more focused approach to its war in Gaza ahead of the visit, but Palestinian health officials say it is still killing scores of people every day, reporting 249 dead in the past 24 hours.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country was determined to end Hamas rule of the enclave and deter other potential Iran-backed adversaries like Hezbollah.

"We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy," Gallant told The Wall Street Journal. "Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it."

Palestinians said Israel bombarded areas in the east of the southern city of Khan Younis and central Gaza Strip all night amid clashes in those areas.

One strike alone in Deir al-Balah killed 18 people and wounded dozens, they said.

Israel said it had bombed an arms cache and uncovered a tunnel shaft in the central part of the strip, and killed at least 10 Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis.

On the morning of Jan 8, the Israeli army dropped leaflets on Al-Moghani in central Gaza Strip, warning residents to evacuate several districts it said were "dangerous combat zones".

Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes in the war at least once, and many are now moving again, often sheltering in makeshift tents or huddled under tarpaulins.

For Ms Aziza Abbas, 57, one of a handful of Gazans now camped close to the southern border with Egypt, there was nowhere else to go after what she said was bombardment around a school in which she had taken shelter after leaving her home in the north.

"They may kill us here, it doesn't matter to them," she told Reuters, saying she did not want to leave Gaza for Egypt, which has closed the border fearing an exodus.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, reported 63 direct hits on its installations, and only five out of 22 of its health centres were working in central and southern Gaza.

Israel, whose offencive has also caused acute shortages of food, water and medicine, accuses Hamas militants of deliberately operating among civilians, allegations they deny.

Blinken said he would tell Israeli officials that they must do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and allow Palestinian civilians to return home.

An Israeli government spokesman said Israel hoped Blinken would be able to stop Hezbollah attacks that had displaced 80,000 Israelis.

The Israeli offencive has so far killed 23,084 Palestinians in Gaza, Palestinian health officials said on Jan 8.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would not stop until Hamas returned more than 100 hostages still held among the 240 people seized during its Oct 7 attack on Israeli towns that killed 1,200 people.

Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani vowed on Jan 7 to continue trying to mediate the release of the hostages, but said its work had been complicated by the killing of a Hamas leader by an Israeli drone strike in Beirut last week.

ALSO READ: Jordan says Netanyahu must not be allowed to drag region into wider war