Israel-Gaza war live updates: Human Rights Watch condemns U.S. after it vetoes cease-fire resolution

The Israel Defense Forces on Friday reported a new round of battles in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s largest city. Commanders said the IDF hit 450 targets from air, sea and land. They described close-quarters fighting.

Friday’s vote was the third time the United States vetoed a Security Council recommendation calling for a cease-fire since the war in Gaza began following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. A U.S. envoy defended the vote, calling the resolution, introduced by the United Arab Emirates, “divorced from reality.” Thirteen members of the Security Council supported the measure, including U.S. allies; Britain abstained.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Friday after an attack targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Austin condemned the attack, which al-Sudani described as “acts of terrorism,” and the recent attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria following the outbreak of war in Gaza, a readout from the Department of Defense said.

At least 17,487 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 56,400 wounded since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.