US wants 'tangible steps' toward Palestinian state, Israel fights on

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he supports "tangible steps" towards establishing a Palestinian state, but the prospect for peace talks seems grim as Israel's war in Gaza rages on.

Blinken held talks in the West Bank with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and told him a Palestinian state must exist alongside Israel to ensure peace and security in the region.

"Met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss ongoing efforts to minimize civilian harm in Gaza, accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid, end extremist violence, and work towards an independent Palestinian state," Blinken said.

The US diplomat made similar demands to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

Figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry show that 23,357 people have been killed as a result of Israeli military operations since the start of the war in October.

In addition, almost 59,401 people have been injured. These figures cannot currently be independently verified.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says 1.9 million people - around 85% of the population in the Gaza Strip - have been displaced at least once in the current conflict.

Israel is responding to the worst massacre in its history and is vowing to destroy the Islamist movement Hamas, which controlled the Gaza Strip.

On October 7, gumen from the militant Palestinian organization Hamas and other extremist groups launched a murderous raid on Isreal, killing 1,200 and kidnapping around 240.

Israeli forces have continued their attacks in the city of Khan Younis and in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the south and centre of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops attacked around 150 Hamas targets over the past day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

In Khan Younis, the largest city in the south of the sealed-off Palestinian territory, the army said it had killed dozens of Hamas militants.

Fifteen underground tunnel shafts were uncovered in al-Maghazi, established in 1949 and one of the smaller refugee camps in Gaza. It is a densely built-up quarter with narrow streets and alleys.

The UN said that some 33,000 Palestinians lived there before the war erupted in October.

Israeli military operations in the area also uncovered rocket launchers, drones and explosive devices, the IDF said.

Blinken's hopes for peace were undermined by an Israeli politician standing by his call for Gaza to be burnt down - a day before a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over whether Israel is committing genocide.

Nissim Vaturi, a right-wing member of parliament from the ruling Likud party, defended his now-deleted post on social media platform X in an interview with the radio station Hakol Baramah, prompting outrage in Israel and abroad.

Almost a month and a half ago, Vaturi wrote: "Burn Gaza now and nothing less!" In the radio interview, Vaturi said he had no regrets about the post despite the civilian death toll.

"I said, 'Burn Gaza down.' Burn it down, what does that mean? To go in and tear it apart," he remarked.

"They came and burned us, our children," Vaturi said, adding that he believes there are also no civilians left in the combat zones in the sealed-off coastal strip.

Aid agencies fear 100,000 people are there, but Vaturi does not believe any are innocent.

The risk that the Gaza conflict becomes a full-blown war on other fronts was highlighted by Israel again striking positions of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army said it attacked “terrorist infrastructure” and military compounds in the border area where rockets had been fired towards Israeli posts.

Germany is providing Lebanon with a further €15 million ($16.4 million) to enable the army to better ensure security in the south as tensions between Israel and Shiite Islamist militia Hezbollah grow.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut to discuss the tensions between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Another possible front is Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been firing missiles toward Israel and targeting merchant ships in the Red Sea.

The US Central Command announced that US and British fighter planes had shot down 18 drones and three missiles.