US top diplomat Antony Blinken has said Israel has agreed on a plan for a UN mission to assess the situation in war-torn northern Gaza to enable the safe return of displaced Palestinians.
"As Israel's campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza and as the IDF (Israel army) scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the UN to carry out an assessment mission," Mr Blinken said during a visit to Israel.
"It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to the north."
In an update this evening, Mr Blinken also said that the cost of the devastating war in Gaza on civilians, and especially children, is "far too high". However, he added that the US believes South Africa's genocide charge against Israel is "meritless".
During a press conference after talks in Tel Aviv with Israeli leaders Mr Blinken said Palestinians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow.
Mr Blinken said the United States rejected any proposals advocating a resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza and stressed that the Palestinian authority has responsibility to reform itself.
Mr Blinken, who visited several other countries in the Middle East this week, also said that many countries in the Middle East are ready to invest in the future of Gaza, but only with a clear pathway to a Palestinian state.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Mr Blinken had reaffirmed US support for Israel's attempts to stop any repeat of the Hamas attack of 7 October, which sparked the conflict.
Mr Miller said Mr Blinken then "stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza".
The Hamas attack resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, and some 250 people taken hostage.
Israel responded to the deadliest attack in its history with a bombardment by land, sea and air of Gaza that has killed at least 23,210 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
Mr Miller said Mr Blinken and Mr Netanyahu discussed attempts to free the remaining hostages from the October attack, which Israel says number 132, though 25 of them are believed to have been killed. They also talked about the importance of getting more aid to the people of Gaza.
"The secretary reiterated the need to ensure lasting, sustainable peace for Israel and the region, including by the realisation of a Palestinian state," said Mr Miller.
While on his latest mission to prevent the Gaza conflict from spreading in the Middle East, Mr Blinken told Israeli leaders there was still a chance of winning acceptance from their Arab neighbours, if they create a path to a viable Palestinian state.
On his fourth trip to the region since October, Mr Blinken said he would share what he had heard in two days of talks with Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Blinken had already said he would press Mr Netanyahu's government on the "absolute imperative" to do more to protect Gaza's civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach them.
US President Joe Biden said overnight that Washington was quietly pushing Israel to begin withdrawing some of its forces.
Mr Blinken's meetings around the region have focused on trying to chart a longer-term approach to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, as part of a path toward ending the Gaza war.
After his meetings with Arab allies, he said they wanted integration with Israel - a long-term Israeli aim - but only if that included a "practical pathway" to a Palestinian state.
Read more about the Israel-Hamas conflict
After weeks of US pressure to tamp down its assault, Israel says its forces are transitioning from full-blown warfare to a more targeted campaign in the northern half of Gaza, while still maintaining intensive combat in southern areas.
It said troops had killed around 40 Palestinian fighters and raided a militant compound and tunnel shafts since yesterday during expanded operations in Khan Younis in the south.
Aid allowed into Gaza like 'a drop in the ocean' - UNICEF
The UN humanitarian office OCHA said that "as casualties rise, the ability to treat them continues to be in jeopardy".
It said three hospitals in central Gaza and Khan Younis, including Al Aqsa, were "at risk of closure due to the issuance of evacuation orders in nearby areas and the ongoing conduct of hostilities nearby".
The medical charity MSF said a shell had broken through the wall of one of its shelters in Khan Younis housing over 100 staff and their families, critically wounding the five-year-old daughter of an MSF staffer.
UNICEF's Special Representative for Palestine Lucia Elmi described the conditions in Gaza as "very, very dire".
Ms Elmi, from the UN's children agency, spent a number of days inside Gaza recently and said the current aid that Israel is allowing into the territory is "a drop in the ocean" compared to what is needed.
"We need more supplies. We need more access to the population wherever they are, including the middle area where the conflict is intensifying and the north where nobody has been able to reach," Ms Elmi told RTÉ's News at One.
Israel's relentless bombardment and its restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza have prompted South Africa to file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians. Hearings are due to begin on Thursday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Mr Blinken there was "nothing more atrocious and preposterous" than the court case, noting that Israel's Hamas enemies are sworn to its destruction.
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, where the Hezbollah militia has been firing rockets across the Israeli border in support of Hamas. Both groups are supported by Iran, Israel's sworn enemy.
Hezbollah today attacked an Israeli army base with explosive drones deployed from Lebanon, hitting the position for the first time in what the Iran-backed group declared part of its response to recent Israeli assassinations in Lebanon.
Three members of Hezbollah were killed in a strike on their vehicle in south of Lebanon, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters, after a top Hezbollah commander was killed in the area yesterday.
Hezbollah said it had launched a drone attack against Israeli command headquarters in response to the killings of senior Hezbollah figure Wissam Tawil and of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut last week. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attacks.
