(Reuters) - As Israel's bombardment and siege of Gaza has intensified, the territory's 2.3 million residents have been left without power, pushing health and water services to the brink of collapse, with fuel for hospital generators running low.
U.S. officials warned that the war between Israel and militant group Hamas could escalate, as American warships headed to the area amid growing clashes on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.
CONFLICT
* Hamas' armed wing says it fired a 'barrage of missiles' at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv
* White House officials are hoping the crossing into Egypt can be opened for a few hours to allow people to leave Gaza before an expected Israeli ground offensive, the White House said. "Right now it's still closed," spokesman John Kirby said.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority and said any form of violence against civilians was unacceptable, the Kremlin said. "There was also serious concern about the likelihood of the conflict escalating into a regional war", it said.
* Supporting the Palestinians is Iran's foreign policy priority but Palestinian groups make their own independent decisions, President Ebrahim Raisi told his Russian counterpart, Iranian state media reported.
* The expected Israeli ground offensive and air strikes have raised fears of unprecedented suffering in the narrow, impoverished Gaza Strip. The fate of 4-year-old Fulla Al-Laham is just one of many heartbreaking examples: her grandmother said an air strike hit the family home, killing Fulla's parents, siblings and members of her extended family.
* Military forensic teams in Israel examined the bodies of victims of the Hamas attack, and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officers said.
HUMAN IMPACT
* "Gaza is running out of water and electricity," the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said.
* Half of Israel's hotel rooms were being used to house families evacuated from communities near the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas gunmen, the head of the Israel Hotel Association said.
* Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land said he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza.
* Cancelled tours, empty hotels: Israeli and Palestinian tourism reels as the conflict escalates.
* Gaza health officials are storing the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes in ice-cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals is too risky and cemeteries lack space.
INTERNATIONAL
* China's foreign minister Wang Yi met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, and exchanged views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
* U.S. and Israeli officials are discussing the possibility of a visit to Israel soon by U.S. President Joe Biden.
* Malaysia does not agree with Western pressure to condemn Hamas, its prime minister said, despite international outrage over the militant group's unprovoked and deadly attack on Israel.
* Egypt said Israel was not cooperating with delivery of aid into Gaza and evacuations of foreign passport holders, leaving hundreds of tonnes of supplies stuck.
* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel on Monday, a senior State Department official said, extending his Middle East shuttle diplomacy by a day.
* A group of U.S. senators will travel to the Middle East to encourage Israel and Saudi Arabia to continue talks on normalizing relations, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
INSIGHTS AND EXPLAINERS
* How Hamas secretly created a 'mini-army' to fight Israel.
* Hamas uses a global financing network to funnel support from charities and friendly nations, passing cash through Gaza tunnels or using cryptocurrencies to bypass international sanctions.
* What are the origins of Hezbollah: Iran founded it in 1982 to export its 1979 Islamic Revolution and fight Israeli forces after their 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
MARKETS AND BUSINESS
* Defense funds saw sharp inflows as the conflict threatened Middle East stability.
* Brent oil futures steadied above $90 a barrel on Monday after topping that level on Friday, as investors waited to see if the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates further.
* Saudi Arabia's $778 billion sovereign wealth fund has mandated banks to arrange a bond sale, the first high-profile debt issue from the region since the Hamas attack.
* Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen 32 cryptocurrency wallet addresses containing a combined $873,118 it said were linked to "terrorism and warfare" in Israel and Ukraine, the company said.
* Crude oil held above $90 a barrel, equities slid and the safe-haven dollar was firm amid heightened anxiety over escalating violence in Gaza and the prospect the conflict could spread in the region.
(Compiling by Stephen Farrell, Robert MacMillan and Diane Craft; Editing by Sandra Maler, Miral Fahmy and Bernadette Baum)