'This cannot continue': US, Britain thwart latest, largest Houthi attack

This page is a summary of news on the Israel-Hamas war for Wednesday, Jan. 10. For the latest news on the conflict in the Middle East, view our live updates file on the war for Thursday, Jan. 11, here.

Repeated warnings from the U.S. and possible condemnation by the U.N. Security Council did not deter Houthi rebels from launching their largest attack yet on commercial ships in the Red Sea, a barrage of 21 drones and missiles repelled by American and British naval forces late Tuesday.

U.S. Central Command said the Iranian-backed Houthis, based in Yemen, fired off a "complex attack" in the direction of "international shipping lanes where dozens of merchant vessels were transiting.''

It took the intervention of four U.S. warships and a British one to shoot down the 18 drones and three missiles in the Houthis' 26th assault in that corridor since Nov. 19, Central Command said, adding that no injuries or damage was reported.

The Houthins, a Shiite group that has held Yemen’s capital of Sanaa since 2014, issued a televised statement saying they aim to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza and were also responding to American troops sinking Houthi vessels and killing 10 rebel fighters last week.

Their attacks in the Red Sea, where nearly 15% of global seaborne trade goes through, have prompted several shipping companies to reroute their cargo vessels, adding considerable time and expense to their journeys.

Upon arriving in Bahrain on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken again cautioned the Houthis about unspecified "consequences."

"This represents a clear threat to the interests of countries around the world, and it’s important that the international community come together and respond to that," he said.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps was more succinct, telling reporters: "This cannot continue and cannot be allowed to continue.''

The Security Council scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution to condemn the attacks and demand they stop immediately, but it was not clear whether Russia would veto it.

Blinken dangles 'transformative' change: Mideast neighbors want to work with Israel

Developments:

∎ An Israeli bombing near Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in central Gaza killed and wounded at least 40 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

∎ Blinken next traveled to Bahrain, home base of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on efforts to prevent the war from spreading across the Middle East.

∎ An airstrike hit a four-story house outside Rafah, a city in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 20 others, including women and children, Gaza health officials said.

Palestinian Authority leader lobbies for UN membership

Blinken met Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, seeking administrative reforms aimed at allowing the government body to play a key role in ruling the Gaza Strip when the war is over.

Blinken's convoy rolled into Ramallah, the de facto capital of the West Bank, from Tel Aviv after a day of talks with Israeli leaders who have shown little interest in heeding the global outcry for a two-state solution.

Abbas stressed the need for a political solution starting with a State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and gaining full U.N. membership by a decision of the Security Council, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Abbas also lobbied for an international peace conference to end the Israeli occupation and for Blinken to pressure Israel to release frozen funds needed to pay government salaries and other bills.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a Palestinian-led government in Gaza and says the war won't end until Hamas has been crushed. Another problem: Many Palestinians view the authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as a corrupt puppet of Israel.

The State Department released a statement saying Blinken had a "productive discussion with President Abbas about administrative reforms, which, if implemented, would benefit the Palestinian people." The statement added that the U.S. "supports tangible steps toward the creation of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, with both living in peace and security."

International court hearing on genocide claim begins Thursday

South Africa will begin presenting its genocide case against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday. South Africa says Israel's military operations in Gaza are "genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group." Netanyahu has denied the claims, saying Hamas was attempting genocide on Israelis and that the Israeli military is acting "as morally as possible."

At a news conference Wednesday, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said: "We call on the International Court of Justice not to submit to the dictates and pressure of the American administration, which is a partner and is responsible for the continuation of the genocide war that is still committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.''

South Africa wants Israel ordered to "immediately suspend" its war in Gaza. If issued, such an order would likely be ignored by Israel. In 2022, Russia ignored an order to suspend its war in Ukraine.

Friendly fire sparked explosion that killed 6 Israeli soldiers

An Israeli tank shell that hit an electricity pole ignited the explosion that killed six Israeli soldiers Monday in the central Gaza Strip, a preliminary investigation determined. The soldiers were preparing explosives for demolition of a tunnel used by Hamas when the tank operators, citing suspicious movement in a nearby building, began firing shells, the military said in a statement, adding that the investigation was continuing.

The blast that hit the pole "somehow activated the detonating cord, leading to the premature massive explosion of the tunnel system while the combat engineers were still working on preparing it for demolition,” the statement said. Another 14 soldiers were wounded in the blast, the military said.

Talks aimed at freeing hostages reportedly revived

An Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo for a new round of talks with Egypt on a possible swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian security prisoners in Israel, the Times of Israel reported, citing an Egyptian official. And Israeli Channel 13 reports a Qatari proposal that would go further by exiling Hamas leaders, freeing the hostages in waves and withdrawing Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel's security cabinet could take up the proposal within hours, Channel 13 reported.

The reports come as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Abbas gathered in Aqaba, Jordan, for a summit on the tragedy unfolding in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 23,000 Palestinians have died since Oct. 7, the day a Hamas-led rampage into Israel killed more than 1,200 Israelis. Hamas and other militant groups are believed to hold more than 130 hostages, including civilians and Israeli soldiers, taken back to Gaza that day. More than 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

4 flashpoints in Israel-Hamas conflict: What could spark a wider war in Middle East?

Four flashpoints that could spark war across the Middle East

More than three months after the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza, the fighting and conflict is reverberating beyond the tiny strip of land that Israelis and Palestinians have been sparring over for decades. The bloodshed has spread across parts of the Middle East, sparking fears it could metastasize into a wider regional conflict − with complicated implications for the U.S. and its western allies. Four of the biggest flashpoints unfolding in the region right now could spark a wider and more complex Middle East war. Read more here.

"The Middle East is in the throes of unprecedented levels of tension, unparalleled in recent memory," wrote Mona Yacoubian, an expert on the region at the United States Institute of Peace, in a recent commentary.

− Kim Hjelmgaard and Tom Vanden Brook

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel Hamas live war updates: US, Britain foil largest Houthi attack