JERUSALEM (AP) The Latest on the harrowing fighting between Israel and Gaza s militant Hamas rulers (all times local):
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WASHINGTON President Joe Biden says he has spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about calming the deadly conflict between Israel and Gaza s militant Hamas rulers.
Biden was asked on Thursday whether Netanyahu was doing enough to keep the violence from escalating.
The U.S. president responded that he has had a brief conversation with Netanyahu and that the administration has been in touch with others from Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
He said that so far, there has not been a significant over reaction to the conflict. He said the goal now is to get to a point where there is a significant reduction in attacks, particularly rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired into population centers.
He called the effort is a work in progress.
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PARIS French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the latest Mideast clashes and says he will speak soon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as other regional leaders.
A statement from Macron s office on Thursday said the French president expressed condolences for Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel. But he also condemned attacks by Hamas and urged Abbas to use all means of his influence to restore calm as quickly as possible.
Macron urged a return to peace and a decisive relaunch of peace negotiations.
Also on Thursday, a few dozen people protested in eastern Paris to show support for the Palestinians.
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JERUSALEM Israel s military confirms that three rockets have been fired from southern Lebanon toward northern Israel.
The reports said the rockets fell in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday evening. No injuries were reported.
Israeli media reported that the rockets were apparently fired by one of the Palestinian factions in Lebanon and that it s not the start of Hezbollah getting involved in the conflict.
No air raid sirens were activated in northern Israel, which the military said was in accordance with protocol.
The development came as Hamas sent a heavy barrage of rockets deep into Israel on Thursday as Israel pounded Gaza with more airstrikes and called up 9,000 more reservists.
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JERUSALEM Israel s opposition leader says the country faces an existential threat from ongoing violent unrest between Jewish and Arab mobs.
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid on Thursday said that if the ethnic fighting doesn t stop, the state is in danger.
He vowed to build an alternative governing coalition and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s 12-year rule. Netanyahu also has condemned the communal violence.
Lapid spoke amid ongoing airstrikes and rocket attacks from Gaza.
Earlier Thursday, an Arab man allegedly shot and seriously wounded a Jewish man in the latest incident of ethnic fighting inside Israel.
In Jaffa, an Israeli soldier was attacked by a group of Arabs and was hospitalized in serious condition. In south Tel Aviv, two Jewish men attacked a journalist covering a gathering of ultranationalists.
Police said officers had arrested at least eight suspects in the northern city of Haifa who were involved in stone-throwing and other violent unrest.
Lapid said in his televised address, We are on the brink of the abyss.
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ISLAMABAD Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has spoken by telephone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the deteriorating situation between Israel and Gaza s militant Hamas rulers.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Khan reaffirmed Pakistan s support for the rights of Palestinian people. The ministry said Khan strongly condemned the attacks on worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as deadly airstrikes by Israel in Gaza.
The development came as Hamas sent a heavy barrage of rockets deep into Israel on Thursday as Israel pounded Gaza with more airstrikes and called up 9,000 more reservists.
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UNITED NATIONS China, Norway and Tunisia say the U.N. Security Council should swiftly hold an open meeting on the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The three nations sought a council meeting on Friday.
The Security Council has has been silent on the issue, and China said there would be no open meeting. Council diplomats said the United States informed members it couldn t support the request amid ongoing diplomatic efforts. The U.S. said it would support an open meeting on Tuesday.
Norway s U.N. Mission tweeted that it is working to reach consensus for a Security Council meeting as soon as possible. It urged a halt to the rocket fire, adding, Please don t let innocent civilians suffer.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Thursday that Washington is supportive of an open discussion at the United Nations. I think we re looking at early next week.
Blinken said he hopes this will give some time for the diplomacy to have some effect and see if we get a real de-escalation.