Palestinian territories:

Israeli troops were engaged in “heavy fighting” with Hamas in southern Gaza on Sunday as the CIA chief met with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials for cease-fire talks, the army said.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike on the border between Jordan and Syria. It was the first time a U.S. service member had been killed by enemy fire since the war began, further raising concerns about a wider conflict.

As fighting intensified, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres pleaded for continued support for UNRWA, the U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugees threatened by a bitter row over the alleged conflict. Staff involved in Hamas’s October 7 attack This is where the war begins.

Several major donors to the agency, including the United States and Germany, stopped funding UNRWA, which has been at the heart of humanitarian efforts in Gaza, following the Israeli accusations.

Guterres called on donors to pledge vital aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, saying “the urgent needs of the desperate people they serve must be met.”

The Israeli army reported heavy fighting in the main southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the focus of the fighting.

The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled region said at least 24 people were killed in an Israeli attack on Khan Younis on Sunday, where gunfire echoed throughout the day.

An Israeli air strike killed 10 people in a house in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Defense Ministry said late Sunday, after the Israeli army reported airstrikes in northern and central Gaza.

CIA Director William Burns met with senior officials from Egypt, Israel and Qatar in Paris.

Israel reported “constructive” discussions. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “significant differences” remained and that more talks were expected in the coming days.

A security source confirmed to AFP that US President Joe Biden was sending Burns to try to negotiate the release of the remaining personnel. Hamas takes Israeli hostages in exchange for a ceasefire.

More than three months of war have resulted in an escalating humanitarian crisis and mass displacement. The United Nations says more than a million people are crowded into areas near the Egyptian border.

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, warned that suspending UNRWA funding was a “blatant flout” of an International Court of Justice order on Friday to allow more aid into Gaza.

The U.N. top court also said Israel must prevent genocide in its war with Hamas, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.

UNRWA said on Friday it had laid off several employees amid Israeli accusations that some of its staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack. According to official AFP statistics, the attack killed about 1,140 people, most of them civilians.

Hamas has also held about 250 hostages, of which Israel says about 132 remain in Gaza, including at least 28 bodies of dead prisoners.

In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, its military offensive has killed at least 26,422 people in Gaza, the majority of whom were women and children.

Bassam al-Masri, who was displaced from northern Gaza to Rafah in the south, said it would be “a major disaster” and “famine would happen” if aid was cut off.

Guterres said the “abhorrent alleged conduct” of some UNRWA staff should not mean that thousands of its other humanitarian workers should be punished.

“I strongly call on governments that have suspended contributions to at least guarantee the continuity of UNRWA operations,” Guterres said.

The agency’s head, Philippe Lazzarini, warned in a social media post that funding cuts meant the agency’s operations in Gaza were close to collapse.

Israel’s special envoy to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, accused UNRWA funds “of being directed toward terrorism” and urged donors to wait for “a full investigation into the organization.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Bart Eide announced in a statement that “the main donors to UNRWA… have decided to continue funding”.

Oslo “expects full transparency from the agency,” he said, stressing that “UNRWA is a lifeline for many Gazans.”

“We should not collectively punish millions of people.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X that “cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who are in desperate need of support.”

The Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, where aid is inspected and sent into Gaza, was blocked on Sunday by protesters including family members of hostages, Israeli officials said.

In a separate protest, thousands of supporters of Israel’s resettlement of Gaza, including some far-right cabinet ministers, gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday to urge Netanyahu to realize their controversial dream.

In an official statement, the Prime Minister rejected resettlement in Palestinian territories.

He also faces growing demonstrations and calls for early elections after he failed to bring back most of the hostages.

U.S. President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed groups for the incident deadly attack on U.S. troopsthe military’s Central Command said, causing 25 injuries.

A loose coalition of Iran-linked armed groups has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks by U.S. and allied forces in Iraq and Syria since Israel launched a war against Iran-backed Hamas. Foreign troops are part of the anti-jihadist coalition.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)