TRANSCRIPT
There has been a steady stream of United States diplomats in Israel since the October 7th Hamas attack triggered its military operations in Gaza.
On his second visit in two months, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the war cabinet in Tel Aviv.
He says U-S support for Israel is unshakeable.
"So I'm here with a clear message: America's support for Israel's security is unshakeable and Israel is not alone."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to achieve total victory over Gaza's ruling Hamas militants, who killed 1200 people and took 240 hostages in a surprise raid into Israel on October 7th.
The war has left the Gaza Strip largely in ruins and killed more than 19,400 Palestinians so far, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Mr Austin says the U-S wants Israel to do more to protect civilians through actions like taking a "more surgical" approach in its military operations, and transitioning to lower-intensity operations.
"Protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral duty and a strategic imperative. So we will continue to stand up for Israel's bedrock right to defend itself and we will also continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza."
Standing alongside Mr Austin, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel will gradually transition to the next phase of its military operation, but that still depends on Israel achieving its goal of wiping out Hamas.
"We will continue to operate in different levels of intensity, according to the situation in the region. And soon we will be able to distinguish between different areas in Gaza, in every area where we achieve our mission we will be able to transition gradually to the next phase and start working on bringing back local population. That means that it can be achieved maybe sooner in the north rather than in the south. So, we are dealing with all the different components and we will decide in the near future."]]
Mr Austin also used his meeting with Israel's leaders to announce that a new international coalition has been formed to deal with another front that has emerged in the war.
Iranian-backed Houthi militia have been attacking shipping vessels in the Red Sea using a series of missile and drone strikes, saying they're a response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
British multinational B-P has become the first oil company to halt its shipments through the Red Sea, after five big shipping firms did the same.
The U-S government says the new multinational maritime taskforce has been tasked to uphold "freedom of navigation" and global trade activity in the vital shipping lane, which connects ships coming from Asia and eastern Africa to Europe via the Suez Canal in Egypt.
About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic transits via the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
Australia is considering a request from the US to send a warship to the Red Sea.
Associate Professor Sal Mercogliano, from Campbell University in North Carolina, has told SBS disruptions with Red Sea shipping routes could have large-scale impacts.
[["What you're seeing right now is the big announcement by the major ocean carriers to boycott - to actually sail around Africa, and avoid going through this very contentious area right now. And that is going to mean delays in shipping. So this is definitely going to impact Australia. Most of Australia's shipping, especially containers, comes through the main terminals in Singapore. And any sort of delay is going to have a butterfly effect down the supply chain. So this is going to disrupt shipments to and from Australia. The good news is of course that everything for Christmas is already on the shelves. It is already there. But you could see potential delays down into January (2024)."]]
Meanwhile, the lack of food, water and fuel on the ground in Gaza is becoming more acute.
The World Food Programme says access to water in Gaza is severely constrained, with less than two litres per person per day, falling well short of the 17 litres a day that's considered the basic survival-level requirement.
In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Eyad Hellis says the water restrictions are particularly tough for the children.
"The situation is very difficult, sometimes we run out of water by the evening and the kids have to sleep thirsty until the sun rises and we can go out to fill up again."]
Human Rights Watch, in its latest report, accuses Israel of deliberately blocking delivery of water, food and fuel, razing agricultural areas and depriving people of items needed for survival.
The report says deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime.
Israeli government spokeswoman Tal Heinrich says Israel rejects those allegations.
"Well, this is very unfortunate language. This is absolutely not true. So we placed zero restrictions on the amount of food and water that are being able to enter the Gaza Strip. So this is a ridiculous claim. And in fact, Hamas terrorists are the ones stealing these important resources from the Palestinian population in Gaza."
The UN's emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths says he welcomes the opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza to increase the flow of aid to those in Gaza.
But he says what people in Gaza most need is an end to this war.
The subject of a Gaza ceasefire will come before the U-N Security Council again in the next 24 hours [[2am 20 Dec Sydney/10am 19 Dec New York]].
The United Arab Emirates has put forward a draft resolution calling for an "urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access in the Gaza Strip".
