Live updates | Israel’s allies step up calls for a halt to the assault on Gaza

After France, the U.K. and Germany joined global calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is due in Tel Aviv Monday, and is also expected to press Israel to wind down its offensive in Gaza.

The 10-week-old war has killed over 18,700 Palestinians and transformed much of the north of Gaza into a moonscape. Nearly 85% of Gaza’s population have fled their homes.

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.

Currently:

Other news In Israel, the US defense secretary is expected to press for a more targeted approach in Gaza In Israel’s killing of 3 hostages, some see the same excessive force directed at Palestinians Haley slams DeSantis for stumping in Iowa with Massie, who’s opposed votes condemning antisemitism

— In Israel’s killing of three hostages, some see the same excessive force directed at Palestinians.

— Israel finds a large tunnel adjacent to the Gaza border, raising questions about prewar intelligence.

— European nations step up calls for a Gaza cease-fire.

— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here’s what’s happening in the war:

RIGHTS WATCHDOG ACCUSES ISRAEL OF DELIBERATELY STARVING CIVILIANS

JERUSALEM — Human Rights Watch is accusing Israel of deliberately starving Gaza’s population, a method of warfare that it described as a war crime.

The New York-based rights organization said Monday that Israeli forces were “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance (and) apparently razing agricultural areas”

The United Nations’ food agency reported on Dec. 14 that 56% of Gaza’s households were experiencing “severe levels of hunger,” up from 38% two weeks earlier.

HRW said that following the Oct. 7 attack by Gaza-based militants on Israel that killed around 1,200 people, top Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, made public statements “expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel.” Other Israeli officials have made statements conditioning the provision of humanitarian aid on the release of the approximately 240 hostages Palestinian militants took into Gaza, HRW said.

The starving of civilians is a war crime under international humanitarian law. For the first two months of the war, humanitarian aid was delivered to Gaza through a single border crossing from Egypt, severely restricting the amount of food and other supplies that could reach the coastal enclave’s residents. After pressure from the United States, Israel reopened a second border-crossing into Gaza last week. But the amount of aid entering the territory is still less than half of prewar imports, even as needs have soared and fighting hinders delivery in many areas.

The AP has contacted Israeli officials for a response.

US DEFENSE OFFICIALS ARRIVE IN ISRAEL FOR TALKS WITH NETANYAHU

TEL AVIV — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. CQ Brown Jr. have arrived in Israel to discuss Israel’s ongoing military operations against Hamas amid a growing political rift between Tel Aviv and Washington over the war.

The two defense leaders have spent decades of their military service focused on the Middle East. They are in Israel to focus on the tactical milestones of its campaign, amid hopes that the long-running military-to-military connections forged between the two allies can discuss the war’s next steps even as the political strain between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over differences on the bombardment campaign in Gaza grows.

Austin and Brown are expected to meet with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the War Cabinet during their visit. They are also expected to address the media following the day-long talks.

Austin, who oversaw the drawdown of forces in Iraq as major combat operations ended there, is also expected to offer guidance on how to shift into a more targeted, lower-intensity military campaign, something the White House is eager to achieve.