Blinken says he will discuss steps to minimize civilian deaths on Israel trip. Here's what you should know

Antony Blinken talks to reporters prior to boarding his aircraft at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on November 2. Jonathan Ernst/AFP/Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would focus on steps to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza as he headed Thursday for high-level talks in Israel.

“[W]e will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in Gaza, and this is something that the United States is committed to,” he said.

US President Joe Biden, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have been warning Israel with a growing force that it will become increasingly difficult for it to pursue its military goals in the Hamas-run enclave as global outcry intensifies about the scale of humanitarian suffering there.

Biden – who has offered full-throated support for Israel but increasingly raised concerns about the situation in Gaza – called Wednesday for a humanitarian “pause” to allow aid to reach civilians and help facilitate the release of hostages.

Here's what else you should know:

• Intense flares: The skies of northern Gaza were illuminated by flares and explosions during an intense bombardment Thursday night. Earlier, the Israeli military said it was surrounding Gaza City and "deepening" its operations there.
• Fuel shortage and hospital crisis: The head of the main United Nations agency in Gaza said its fuel supplies are “completely depleted,” and the last remaining public services in Gaza have "completely collapsed." A woman sheltering at Gaza’s largest medical facility, Al Shifa Hospital, told CNN that "the smell of death is everywhere" as hospitals suffer from both the fuel shortage as well as Israeli strikes and fuel shortages.
• Clashes at Israel-Lebanon border: The IDF said it was responding to multiple launches Thursday from Lebanon toward Israeli territory. A CNN team in northern Israel saw an increase in the pace of rocket fire from Lebanon, with Israel's Iron Dome engaging with two of them. Israel and Hezbollah — an Iran-backed armed group that dominates southern Lebanon — have been engaged in daily cross-border exchanges of fire since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on October 7, raising fears that the fighting could escalate into a regional war.
• International input: Egypt's foreign minister on Thursday told CNN that a leaked Israeli intelligence ministry document that proposed the relocation of millions of Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt was a "ludicrous proposition." 
• Israel aid package: The House of Representatives passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel as it fights a war against Hamas – a move that sets up a clash with the Democratic-led Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the House GOP bill a “deeply flawed proposal” that the Senate will not take up. Democrats are objecting to the fact that the bill does not include aid to Ukraine and would enact funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.