Middle East latest: Sirens sound across Tel Aviv as projectiles are intercepted near Blinken's hotel

Air raid sirens echoed across Tel Aviv on Wednesday as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to end a visit. Smoke, apparently from an intercepted projectile, could be seen in the sky above the hotel where Blinken was staying.

Blinken urged Israel to use its recent tactical victories against Hamas to seek a war-ending deal and bring back dozens of hostages, before leaving Wednesday for Saudi Arabia as part of his 11th visit to the region since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Both sides appear to be dug in. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annihilate Hamas and recover dozens of hostages held by the group. Hamas says it will only release the captives in return for a lasting cease-fire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization postponed the third phase of a polio vaccine campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying the current conditions made it “impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination.”

Here's the latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The World Health Organization on Wednesday said it and other aid agencies had to postpone the third phase of a polio vaccine campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip due to the ongoing war there.

The WHO issued a statement saying the decision was made in concert with UNICEF, the United Nations' Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, Palestinian officials and others after the inoculations were to begin Wednesday.

“The current conditions, including ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure continue to jeopardize people’s safety and movement in northern Gaza, making it impossible for families to safely bring their children for vaccination, and health workers to operate,” a WHO statement said.

It added: “Given that the area currently approved for temporary humanitarian pauses was substantially reduced — now limited only to Gaza City, a significant decrease from the first round — many children in northern Gaza would have missed out on the polio vaccine dose.”

The WHO said this phase of the vaccinations aimed to vaccinate over 119,000 children across northern Gaza. The campaign began in September after Gaza reported its first polio case in 25 years. Health officials have expressed alarm about disease outbreaks as uncollected garbage piles up and the bombing of critical infrastructure sends putrid water flowing through the streets. Polio is spread through fecal matter. Widespread hunger has left people even more vulnerable to illness.

BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

Baerbock, upon her arrival Wednesday in Beirut, said that “we must now work with our partners in the USA, Europe and the Arab world to find a viable diplomatic solution that safeguards the legitimate security interests of both Israel and Lebanon.”

The foreign minister warned that “a complete destabilization of the country would be fatal for the most religiously diverse society of all states in the Middle East and also for the entire region.” She also asked all parties involved in the conflict to protect the United Nations peacekeeper troops stationed in the Israeli-Lebanese border region.

Baerbock is on her 12th visit to the region since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The five Nordic countries said Wednesday that they are “deeply concerned" by bills introduced to Israel's parliament that, if passed, would prevent the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

In early October, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved two bills that would sever Israeli government ties with UNRWA, ban UNRWA activity on Israel territory and strip it of legal immunities. The bills passed preliminary approvals by a large margin but must pass several more readings before they become law.

A joint letter signed by the foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden said that if the U.N. body “would no longer be able to exercise its core tasks” it could further destabilize the situation in the region, "and may fundamentally jeopardize the prospects for a two-state solution.”

In the letter, they “strongly urge Israel to ensure continued and unhindered humanitarian access” to Palestinian refugees for UNRWA.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel needs to pursue an “enduring strategic success” after its recent tactical victories against Hamas, urging it to seek a deal to end the war and bring back dozens of hostages.

He spoke to reporters Wednesday before traveling from Israel to Saudi Arabia on his 11th visit to the region since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war in Gaza.

The United States hopes to revive cease-fire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza the previous week. But there’s no indication that either of the warring parties have modified their demands since the talks stalled over the summer. Hamas has said its demands have not changed following Sinwar’s death.

Blinken, who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials Tuesday, said he had pressed Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and reiterated his warning that the failure to do so could lead to a reduction in U.S. military aid.

“There’s progress made, which is good, but more progress needs to be made,” on that front, he said.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Air raid sirens echoed across Tel Aviv on Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to depart from his hotel to the airport.

The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Smoke, apparently from one of the interceptions, could be seen in the sky above the hotel where Blinken was staying.

He is on his 11th visit to the region since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, hoping to renew cease-fire efforts after the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he departs for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine speaks during a news conference in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, on Jan. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

A man waves from his shattered house at the site of Israeli airstrikes that destroyed buildings facing the city's main government hospital in a densely-populated neighborhood, in southern Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Israel's President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool via AP)

A man walks at the site of Israeli airstrikes that destroyed buildings facing the city's main government hospital in a densely-populated neighborhood, in southern Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)w

Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and their supporters protest outside the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is staying during a visit with Israeli leadership in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system fires to intercept as air raid sirens sound in Tel Aviv, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy chief told lawmakers Wednesday that North Korea has sent another 1,500 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

Last week, the National Intelligence Service said it had confirmed that North Korea sent 1,500 special operation forces to Russia this month.

NIS director Cho Tae-yong told a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting that his agency has found North Korea sent additional 1,500 soldiers to Russia, according to lawmakers Park Sunwon and Lee Seong Kweun who attended the meeting.

Park cited Cho as saying that North Korea plans to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia by December.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has earlier said his government had intelligence that 10,000 North Korea soldiers were being prepared to join invading Russian forces.

North Korea and Russia have been sharply boosting their cooperation in the past two years. In June, they signed a major defense deal requiring both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.

South Korea’s spy agency recently said that North Korea had sent more than 13,000 containers of artillery, missiles and other conventional arms to Russia since August 2023 to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

Reports that the North is sending troops to Russia stoked security jitters in South Korea. South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that could boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.

The U.S. and NATO haven't officially confirmed reports of North Korea's troop dispatch but warned of the danger of the movements if true.

FILE - South Korean mechanized unit personnel parade with their armored vehicles during the media day for the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day at Seoul air base in Seongnam, South Korea, on Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un smile during their meeting at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Soldiers march in a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding day in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

A TV screen shows an image of soldiers believed to be from North Korea stand in line to receive supplies from Russia during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)