Biden, Saudis call for Israeli restraint as Gaza suffers another bloody day

GAZA/ABU DHABI/CAIRO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Pressure grew on Israel on Monday from its staunch ally the United States and from Middle East powers to ease up on its assault on Gaza as its forces inflicted the highest daily Palestinian death toll so far this year in the war against Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting the region in a bid to prevent the conflict - now entering its fourth month - from turning into a regional conflagration. He was due to arrive in Israel late on Monday after a day meeting Gulf Arab leaders.

Israeli officials have said they are entering a new phase of more targeted warfare after the mass bombardments that have laid waste to the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 23,000 people.

But there was no respite on Monday. Israeli forces bombarded the eastern part of the southern city of Khan Younis and the central Gaza Strip amid ground clashes, residents said.

They said a strike in Deir Al-Balah had killed 18 people overnight and four on Monday, while health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said 247 people had been killed overnight.

Hamas's military wing the Al-Qassam Brigades said its fighters fired a missile barrage at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv in response to what it called the "Zionist massacres against civilians".

And in a further sign the war is spreading beyond Gaza's borders, Israel killed a top commander of Hamas's ally Hezbollah in a strike in south Lebanon on Monday, sources familiar with the group's operations said.

Blinken held talks in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday to try to chart a way forward in the bloodiest chapter ever of the decades-long Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is his fourth mission to the region since the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas militants triggered the massive Israeli assault.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed the importance of stopping the hostilities in Gaza and forming a path for peace, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

SPA said the crown prince - who prior to the war's outbreak had been leading a rapprochement between his country and Israel - underscored the need to restore stability and to ensure the Palestinian people gain their legitimate rights.

Meanwhile U.S. President Joe Biden, confronted by protesters shouting "Ceasefire now" while he visited a church in Charleston, South Carolina, said he had been working "quietly" with the Israeli government to encourage it to reduce its attacks and "significantly get out of Gaza".

Though long a fervent supporter of Israel, Biden has previously described Israel's bombing campaign as "indiscriminate".

Israel, which says it is in a fight for its very survival, accuses Hamas of operating among civilians. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, denies this. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told the Wall Street Journal his country was both determined to end Hamas rule of the enclave and deter other Iran-backed adversaries.

The Israeli offensive has so far killed 23,084 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, while Israel says Hamas still holds more than 100 hostages of the 240 seized during its attack on Israeli towns in which the militants killed about 1,200 people in a single day.

Blinken said he would tell Israeli officials in their meetings that they must do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza. He also said it must allow Palestinian civilians to return home after right-wing members of Israel's ruling coalition called for them to move elsewhere.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell joined Blinken in Saudi Arabia, a sign of international concern.

Jordan's King Abdullah said on Monday that "indiscriminate aggression" and shelling could never bring peace or security.

In remarks at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda, he said: "More children have died in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world this past year. Of those who have survived, many have lost one or both parents, an entire generation of orphans."

The Israeli military said it had bombed an arms cache and uncovered a tunnel shaft in central Gaza and killed at least 10 militant fighters in Khan Younis. It dropped leaflets on al Moghani in central Gaza warning residents to evacuate several districts it said were "dangerous combat zones". Hamas said a sniper had killed an Israeli soldier in central Gaza.

Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes at least once and many are now moving again, often sheltering in makeshift tents or huddled under tarpaulins.

For Aziza Abbas, 57, camped close to the southern border with Egypt, there was nowhere else to go after what she said was bombing around a school in which she had taken shelter after leaving her home in the north.

"They may kill us here, it doesn't matter to them," she told Reuters, saying she did not want to leave Gaza for Egypt, which has closed the border fearing an exodus.

In Rafah, medics recovered the bodies of three people killed in an Israeli air strike on a car that locals said had been carrying food.

"Blinken...will never change anything," displaced Palestinian Mohammed Al-Qassas said at the scene.