Reuters: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
GAZA\/JERUSALEM, Oct 25- The United States and Russia led international calls for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, as Israel maintained its bombardment of the enclave where Palestinians are living in harrowing conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A total of 704 Palestinians, including 305 children, were killed on Tuesday, the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said, a toll the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said was the highest reported in a single day since the conflict began nearly three weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reuters could not independently verify these figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel launched the strikes on Gaza after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 in a rampage that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World leaders are now seeking to prevent the conflict from spreading across a region key to global energy supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed on broader diplomacy<\/a> “to maintain stability across the region and prevent the conflict from expanding,” the White House said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deadly clashes have intensified between the Israeli military and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, and resurged between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group along the Israeli-Lebanon border. Iran<\/a>, which has sought regional ascendancy for decades, backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, and has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel’s military said its jets struck Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers on Wednesday in response to rockets launched from Iran ally Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The military did not provide further details. It did not accuse Syria’s army of firing the two rockets, which set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was no immediate comment from Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli forces on an overnight raid in the occupied West Bank came under fire by a group of Palestinians whom the military then hit with a drone, the Israeli military said on Wednesday. Palestinian officials said three people were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel’s military also said it targeted a cell of Hamas divers attempting to enter Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim. There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n