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WASHINGTON — Senior US and Israeli officials will meet in early December to address American concerns over harm to civilians caused by military operations in Gaza, the State Department said Tuesday.

The United States has regularly voiced concerns to key ally Israel over American-supplied weapons being used in strikes that have killed civilians in the Gaza Strip.

However, it has only once exercised the ultimate US leverage -- holding some of the billions of dollars in military aid to Israel.

The State Department has also opened several investigations into Israeli strikes using US-supplied weapons that killed Gaza civilians. But no conclusions have been made public, and US military aid has continued to flow.

The December meeting will be the first of a new channel designed to "inform the ongoing work that the State Department has to do to make assessments about the use of US-provided weapons," spokesman Matthew Miller said. 

Israel's use of the weapons would breach US law if it were determined the country had deliberately targeted and killed civilians, and US authorities are looking at specific instances to see whether that is the case.

"There are a number of incidents that we have had questions about and we've had concerns about," Miller said.

He added that "we set up this new channel because we wanted to formalize a mechanism for getting answers to some of these questions."

Miller declined to specify where the meeting would take place.

The Biden administration has long called for such a channel, which was included in a letter Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent to Israel in mid-October.

The letter additionally gave Israel a month to allow more assistance into Gaza or face cutoffs of some US weapons.

However the United States ultimately decided not to take action, despite Israel not meeting metrics on the number of aid trucks and a new UN-backed assessment warning of imminent famine in Gaza.

Earlier Tuesday, a handful of left-leaning senators called on the Biden administration to halt arms sales to Israel, accusing the United States of playing a key role in the "atrocities" of the war in Gaza.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the death toll from the ongoing war has reached 43,972 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.

The war first began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon Wednesday, seeking to hammer out a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hizbolllah, as the Iran-backed group battled Israeli troops in the south of the country.

The United States and France have spearheaded efforts for a truce in the conflict, which escalated in late September after nearly a year of deadly exchanges of fire between Hizbolllah and Israel.

On Tuesday, Hochstein said an end to the war was "now within our grasp", while one of his main interlocutors, Hizbolllah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri, said the situation was "good, in principle".

Speaking to pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Berri said his team and US representatives still had "some technical details" to settle.

Hochstein also met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and army chief Joseph Aoun, as well as Christian leader Samir Geagea.

On Wednesday, he held another meeting with Berri.

A Lebanon-based diplomat, requesting anonymity, said "progress" had been made in the talks.

Hizbolllah chief Naim Qassem said Wednesday his group would not accept any truce that violates Lebanese sovereignty, as Israel demands freedom to act against the Iran-backed movement.

Hizbolllah seeks a "complete and comprehensive end to the aggression" and "the preservation of Lebanon's sovereignty... the Israeli enemy cannot enter (Lebanese territory) whenever it wants", Qassem said in a pre-recorded speech.

"Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us," he added, as US envoy Amos Hochstein concluded a two-day visit to Beirut seeking to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hizbolllah.

Hochstein on Tuesday in Beirut had said he saw "a real opportunity" to end the fighting, and on Wednesday said he was heading to Israel "try to bring this to a close if we can".

In Beirut, he met twice with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hizbolllah ally who has led mediation efforts on behalf of the Iran-backed group.

"We have received the (US) paper and we have made some remarks," Qassem said, adding that the comments "and those of speaker Berri, which are in harmony, have been communicated to the American envoy".

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel has the "freedom to act" against the Lebanese militant group.

"In any agreement we will reach, we will need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations," he told foreign ambassadors ahead of Hochstein's expected arrival in Israel.

The Hizbolllah chief said a ceasefire depended on "the Israeli response and the seriousness" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Qassem also said that "the response must be expected on central Tel Aviv", after deadly strikes on three central Beirut districts in recent days.

One of the strikes killed Hizbolllah's spokesman Mohammed Afif and four members of his media team.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council push to call for a ceasefire in Gaza that Washington said would have emboldened Hamas.

"We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages," said US ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the United States on Wednesday for vetoing a call for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN Security Council, saying it "emboldens Israel to continue its crimes".

"The US decision to exercise its veto for the fourth time emboldens Israel to continue its crimes against innocent civilians in Palestine and Lebanon," it said in comments carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis for the first time tackled Israel's ongoing "genocide" of Palestinians in Gaza in a forthcoming book, urging further investigation into whether Israel's actions meet the definition.

Titled "Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World", the book includes his latest and most forthright intervention into the more than year-long war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

"According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide," the pontiff wrote in extracts published on Sunday in Italy's La Stampa daily. 

"This should be studied carefully to determine whether [the situation] corresponds to the technical definition formulated by jurists and international organisations," he added. 

The Argentine pontiff has frequently deplored the number of victims of Israel's operations in Gaza, with the territory's health ministry putting the toll at least 43,846 people, most of them civilians.

But his call for a probe marks the first time he has publicly used the term genocide -- without endorsing it -- in the context of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory.

On Thursday, a United Nations Special Committee judged Israel's conduct of warfare in Gaza "consistent with the characteristics of genocide", accusing the country of "using starvation as a method of war".

Its conclusions have already been condemned by Israel's key backer the United States.

It is, however, not the first time that Israel has been the subject of genocide accusations since the start of the war.

South Africa has brought a genocide case before the International Court of Justice with the support of several countries, including Turkey, Spain and Mexico.

Francis has also frequently called for the return of the Israeli hostages taken on October 7.

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Two senior Islamic Jihad figures were killed in an Israeli strike on Syria on Thursday, said a source from the Palestinian group which has fought against Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas.

The source told AFP on Saturday that Abdel Aziz Minawi, a member of Islamic Jihad's political bureau, and the group's foreign relations chief Rasmi Abu Issa were killed in the strike on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area.

The same source said the strike, targeting a building housing one of the group's offices in Syria, also killed another Islamic Jihad member.

Israeli authorities, who rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, claimed responsibility for the one on Thursday, saying they targeted Islamic Jihad.

Contacted by AFP on Saturday, Israel's army however declined to comment on the two leaders' deaths.

Israeli strikes on Thursday in and around Damascus killed 23 people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

Thirteen people, including civilians and Iran-backed fighters, were killed in a strike on the upscale Damascus district of Mazzeh, the Observatory said, adding that an attack on the capital's outskirts killed 10 Islamic Jihad militants.

Syrian state media said Israel struck the Mazzeh district again on Friday.

Attacks blamed on or claimed by Israel have intensified in Syria, including in areas near the Lebanese border, mainly targeting bastions of the Lebanese movement Hizbollah.

Islamic Jihad still holds several Israeli hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Earlier this week, the group released two video clips of Sasha Trupanov, a 29-year-old Russian-Israeli hostage.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Hizbollah bastions in Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Lebanese officials said they were studying a US truce proposal.

Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing of targets in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops after almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hizbollah militants over the Gaza war.

AFPTV footage showed fresh strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, following calls from the Israeli army for residents to evacuate.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported four strikes during the day and further "heavy strikes" in the early evening.

The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted "a weapons storage facility" and a Hizbollah "command centre" in south Beirut.

NNA also reported a strike on the southern city of Tyre, in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins.

In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.

"They weren't involved with any [armed] party... they were just waiting to answer calls for help," said Ali Al Zein, a relative of one of the dead.

Hizbollah claimed several rocket attacks on northern Israel, targeting military sites including a naval base in the Haifa area.

The Israeli military said "approximately 65 projectiles" had crossed the border.

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, when Hizbollah and Israel began trading fire.

 'Massive explosion' 

In Gaza, the Israeli military said its forces continued "operational activity" in the northern areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the targets of an intense offensive since early October.

A UN-backed assessment at the weekend warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, and UN figures showed the Israeli operation had forced at least 100,000 people to flee.

Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week that said its displacement of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity", as well as findings from a UN Special Committee that pointed to warfare practices that "are consistent with the characteristics of genocide".

A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as "completely false", while the United States -- Israel's main military backer -- said accusations of genocide "are certainly unfounded".

The Gaza health ministry said at least 35 people were killed in the territory in the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war to 43,799.

The majority of the dead were civilians, according to ministry figures which the United Nations considers reliable.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The civil defence agency reported 23 people killed in strikes across Gaza on Saturday.

In Rafah, Jamil Al Masry said a house was hit, causing "a massive explosion".

"We went to the house, only to find it in ruins, with fire raging and smoke and dust everywhere," he told AFP.

As diplomacy aimed at ending the Gaza war has stalled, a top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hizbollah conflict.

It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.

A second Lebanese official, similarly requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said he was "optimistic" about the talks.

Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran was "looking for solutions".

Tehran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the visiting head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday that his government was willing to resolve doubts about its atomic programme, ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's arrival in office.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said achieving "results" in nuclear talks with Iran was vital to avoid a new conflict in the region already inflamed by Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

His visit comes just days after Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Iran was "more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities" giving Israel "the opportunity to achieve our most important goal".

"As we have repeatedly proven our goodwill, we announce our readiness to cooperate and converge with this international organisation to resolve the alleged ambiguities and doubts about the peaceful nuclear activity of our country," Pezeshkian told Grossi.

Trump, a hawk on Iran, is expected to give Israel a far freer rein after he takes office in January.

In Tehran, Grossi said Iranian nuclear installations "should not be attacked".

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who also met with Grossi, said Iran was "willing to negotiate" based on the "national interest" and "inalienable rights," but was not "ready to negotiate under pressure and intimidation".

Araghchi was Iran's chief negotiator in talks that led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, abandoned three years later by Trump.

'Immediate countermeasures' 

Grossi also met the head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Mohammad Eslami.

Eslami told a joint news conference that Iran would take "immediate countermeasures" against any sanctions from the IAEA's board of governors.

"Any interventionist resolution in the nuclear affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran will definitely be met with immediate countermeasures," Eslami said.

Grossi's visit is his second to Tehran this year but his first since Trump's re-election.

During his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump adopted a policy called "maximum pressure" which reimposed sweeping US economic sanctions that had been lifted under the 2015 deal.

Search for solutions 

In response, Iran started to gradually roll back its commitments under the deal, which barred it from enriching uranium to above 3.65 per cent.

The IAEA says Iran has significantly expanded its stocks of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, a level that has triggered international alarm as it is much closer to the 90 per cent level needed for a nuclear warhead.

Iran has blamed the incoming US president for the standoff.

"The one who left the agreement was not Iran, it was America," government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Wednesday.

"Mr Trump once tried the path of maximum pressure and saw that this path did not work."

Trump's looming return to the White House in January has only added to international fears of all-out conflict between Israel and Iran after the archfoes exchanged unprecedented direct attacks earlier this year.

"The margins for manoeuvre are beginning to shrink," Grossi warned in an interview with AFP on Tuesday, adding that "it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions".

Religious decree 

Grossi has said that while Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapon, it does have plenty of enriched uranium that could eventually be used to make one.

Pezeshkian won election in July on a platform to improve ties with the West and revive the 2015 deal.

But all efforts to get the nuclear agreement off life support have failed.

In recent years, Tehran has switched off surveillance devices used to monitor its nuclear programme and effectively barred IAEA inspectors.

Grossi said he would visit uranium enrichment plants at Fordo and Natanz on Friday to get a "full picture" of Iran's nuclear programme.

The foundations of the programme date back to the late 1950s, when the United States signed a civil cooperation agreement with the Western-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In 1970, Iran ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which requires signatory states to declare and place their nuclear materials under IAEA control.

But with Iran threatening to hit back at Israel for its latest missile strikes, some lawmakers have called on the government to revise its nuclear doctrine to develop an atomic bomb.

They called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, to reconsider his longstanding religious edict or fatwa banning nuclear weapons.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A war monitor said Israeli strikes in and around Damascus on Thursday killed 20 people including Palestinian militants and Iran-backed fighters, as attacks intensify during the Lebanon war.

Israel has ramped up strikes on Syria recently, including in areas near the Lebanese border mainly targeting bastions of Iran-backed Hizbollah. Israel has been at war with the Lebanese group since September.

"The death toll from the Israeli strikes on the Mazzeh neighbourhood and Qudsaya rose to 20 people, in addition to 21 other wounded," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Mazzeh neighbourhood, home to embassies, United Nations offices and security headquarters, has been the target of previous strikes blamed on Israel.

Qudsaya is located on the outskirts of Damascus.

"Israeli strikes destroyed three multi-storey buildings in the Mazzeh neighbourhood, killing 10 people," said the Observatory with a network of sources inside Syria. It added that the dead included at least three civilians and two non-Syrian Iran-backed fighters.

In Qudsaya, Israeli jets targeted "an apartment complex housing Palestinians, killing 10 people, including at least three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement", the monitor said.

Islamic Jihad has fought alongside Hamas against Israel in Gaza.

Earlier, Syria's defence ministry said the twin Israeli air strikes killed 15 people after "targeting residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus and the Qudsaya area in the Damascus countryside".

The official SANA news agency published video footage of smoke covering a street.

Early last month Syria's government said seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike, in the Mazzeh district, which the observatory said targeted a building used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hizbollah.

In April, Syrian and Iranian officials blamed Israeli air strikes for the destruction of Iran's embassy consular annex in Mazzeh. The strike killed seven members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

That attack led to Iran's first ever direct strike against Israeli soil, a barrage of drones and missiles, which in turn led to an apparent Israeli retaliation, raising fears of regional conflagration.

Iran and Lebanon's Hizbollah have been among the Syrian government's most important allies in the country's civil war that began in 2011.