Biden to travel to Israel on Oct 18 amid concern that conflict could expand

President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday to show support for the US ally as concerns increase that the raging Israel-Hamas war could expand into a larger regional conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden's travel to Israel as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire and as Israel prepares for a possible ground attack on the 141-square-mile (365-square-kilometre) territory to root out Hamas militants responsible for what US and Israeli officials say was the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust.

Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the US is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged military support, sending US carriers and aid to the region. Officials have said they would ask Congress for upward of $2 billion in additional aid for both Israel and Ukraine, which is fighting Russia's invasion.

Blinken made the announcement early Tuesday after more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials.

The US worked to break a deadlock over delivering aid to millions of increasingly desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by Israel since a brutal attack by Hamas militants, as US President Joe Biden prepared to head to the region.

Israeli airstrikes continued to pound Gaza early Tuesday, even inside an evacuation zone where Israel had told residents to gather in advance of an expected ground offensive.

Israel appears set to mount a major assault on the northern part of the territory aimed at rooting out Hamas.

Wounded people were rushed to the hospital after heavy attacks outside the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, Gaza residents reported.

Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported that 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 were killed in Khan Younis.

Israel has carried out unrelenting airstrikes against Hamas-ruled Gaza since the militant attack on southern Israel last week killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians. Dozens of Israelis and citizens of other countries were taken captive and brought to Gaza by militants.

The Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,778 people and wounded 9,700 others in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there. The strikes have not stopped Hamas militants from continuing to barrage Israel with rockets launched from Gaza.

The combination of airstrikes, dwindling necessities caused by Israel's blockade, and Israel's mass evacuation order for the north of the Gaza Strip has thrown the tiny territory's 2.3 million people into upheaval and caused increasing desperation.

More than 1 million Palestinians have fled their homes, and 60 per cent are now in the approximately 14-kilometer-long (8 mile) area south of the evacuation zone, the UN said. Aid workers warned that the territory was near complete collapse with ever-decreasing supplies of water and medicine and with power running out at hospitals.

At the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to go into the tiny, densely populated territory, and trapped civilians many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities were hoping desperately to get out.

Mediators were trying to reach a cease-fire to open the border, which shut down last week after Israeli airstrikes. An agreement appeared to have been reached Monday, but Israel denied reports of a cease-fire in Rafah, which would be needed to open the gates. On Tuesday morning, they were still closed.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, the head of US Central Command, arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli military authorities ahead of a Biden visit planned for Wednesday to signal White House support for Israel.

Biden will also travel to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders amid fears the fighting could expand into a broader regional conflict as fighting intensified along Israel's border with Lebanon.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel for the second time in a week on Monday after a six-country tour through Arab nations, said in Tel Aviv that the US and Israel had agreed to develop a plan to enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza.

There were few details, but the plan would include the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way.

In Gaza, hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes searched for bread. With taps dry, many rationed the little clean water available and others resorted to drinking dirty or sewage-filled water, risking the spread of disease.

The Israeli military says it was trying to clear civilians for their safety ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in Gaza's north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels and rocket launchers. Much of Hamas' military infrastructure is in residential areas.

Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group. Israel fought a vicious month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006 that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente between the two sides.

Speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah, Don't test us in the north. Don't make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier."

Soon after he spoke, the Knesset floor was evacuated as rockets headed toward Jerusalem. Sirens in Tel Aviv prompted US and Israeli officials to take shelter in a bunker, officials said.

Iran's foreign minister, meanwhile, warned that preemptive action is possible if Israel moves closer to a ground offensive. Hossein Amirabdollahian's threat followed a pattern of escalating rhetoric from Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said on Monday that at least 199 hostages were taken into Gaza, more than previously estimated. Hamas said it was holding 200 to 250 hostages.

Hamas' military wing released a hostage video showing a dazed woman having her arm wrapped with bandages. The woman, who identified herself as Mia Schem, 21, rocked slightly as she spoke, the sound of explosions reverberating in the background. Schem was taken from Kibbutz Reim, where she was attending a rave. Hamas said she had undergone a three-hour operation.

The plight of the hostages has dominated the Israeli media since the attack, with interviews with their relatives playing on television almost constantly. Israeli officials have vowed to maintain the siege of Gaza until the hostages are released.

In Gaza, more than 400,000 displaced people in the south crowded into schools and other facilities of the UN agency for Palestinians. But the agency said it has only 1 liter of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.

Hospitals are expected to run out of generator fuel imminently, meaning life-saving equipment like incubators and ventilators will stop functioning and putting thousands of lives at risk, the UN said.

Yet doctors and many hospital staff have refused to evacuate, saying it would mean death for critically ill patients and newborns on ventilators.

In northern Gaza, unknown numbers remained, either unwilling or unable to leave. Hamas urged people to ignore the evacuation order. The Israeli military on Sunday released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.