The Latest | UN General Assembly votes to give Palestine more rights by a wide margin

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday to give Palestine more “rights and privileges” and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider Palestine's request to become the 194th U.N. member.

In Gaza, heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern city of Rafah has left aid crossings inaccessible, a U.N. humanitarian official said Friday. The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives.

About 110,000 people have fled Rafah for other parts of the besieged territory, the U.N. estimates. Some 1.4 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in the city.

Israel says Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas militant group and vowed to launch a full-scale invasion of the city. The U.S. says a Rafah offensive would jeopardize cease-fire talks and threatened to halt more military aid to Israel.

The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. Israeli bombardments and ground assaults have caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, schools and refugee centers across several cities.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

— A West Bank village feels helpless after Israeli settlers attack with fire and bullets.

— U.N. General Assembly grants Palestine new rights and revives its U.N. membership bid.

— Biden administration won’t conclude Israel violated terms of U.S. weapons agreements, AP sources say

— The Biden-Netanyahu relationship is strained like never before. Can the two leaders move forward?

— What are the latest obstacles to bringing aid into Gaza, where hunger is worsening?

— Pro-Palestinian protesters demand endowment transparency. But it's proving not to be simple.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF GAZA MASS GRAVES

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council wants investigators to have unimpeded access to mass graves in Gaza and accountability for any violations of international law.

An Algerian-drafted press statement was approved by all 15 council members on Friday. It expressed “deep concern” at reports of the discovery of mass graves in and around two Gaza hospitals that were raided by Israel — the Shifa medical complex in Gaza City and Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Reports said the graves contained several hundred bodies.

The Israeli military said its forces exhumed bodies Palestinians had buried earlier as part of its search for the remains of hostages captured by Hamas. The military said bodies were examined in a respectful manner and those not belonging to Israeli hostages were returned to their place.

The Israeli military has said it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside the two hospital complexes. Those claims could not be independently verified.

The Security Council press statement said investigators must be allowed “to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations to establish the circumstances behind the graves.” The council reiterated demands that “all parties” comply with international humanitarian and human rights law, especially the requirement to protect civilians “and civilian objects” including hospitals and schools.

Council members stressed the importance “of allowing families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives.”

They again demanded that Israel and Hamas immediately and fully implement council resolutions for an end to hostilities leading to a lasting cease-fire and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza.

Security Council statements must be approved by all 15 council members and reflect the views of the U.N.’s most powerful body, especially its five permanent veto-wielding members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

WHITE HOUSE SAYS ISRAELI ASSAULT ON RAFAH DOESN'T CROSS BIDEN'S RED LINE OF A ‘MAJOR GROUND OPERATION’

WASHINGTON — White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Israel’s intensified operations near Rafah was not “a broad, large scale invasion” or “major ground operation” that President Joe Biden has warned the Israeli government against carrying out.

Kirby said the most recent operations were focused near the Gaza-Egypt border crossing in Rafah, which was captured by Israeli forces earlier this week and involved those same troops.

“That said, we’re watching it with concern,” Kirby said. ”Every day that that crossing is not available and usable for humanitarian assistance, there’s going to be more suffering. And that’s of deep concern to us. And so, once again, we urge the Israelis to open up that crossing to humanitarian assistance immediately. That aid is desperately needed.”

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israel assault on Rafah, on the border with Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties.

Kirby also told reporters the White House was disappointed that hostage-for-truce talks in Cairo have ended without Israel and Hamas coming to an agreement.

He added that the Biden administration remains “all in” at working to complete a deal.

“We are certainly not going to sit back and abide by an end to an effort to keep the dialogue going and to try to rectify and resolve these differences so that we can get a deal,” Kirby said.

Hamas this week said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the plan does not meet its “core” demands and launched the assault on the Rafah crossing hours later.

HAMAS ACCUSES ISRAEL USING CEASE-FIRE TALKS AS COVER FOR RAFAH OFFENSIVE

JERUSALEM -- Hamas on Friday charged Israel with using cease-fire talks as cover to push ahead with a military offensive in southern Gaza and the Rafah border crossing.

The Palestinian militant group said it had shown “necessary flexibility” in the most recent round of negotiations, which ended inconclusively this week as Israel launched a ground operation in Rafah. The fighting has raising global alarm about the lives of 1.3 million Palestinians sheltering in the city.

“Hamas’s leadership will consult with the leaders of Palestinian resistance factions to reconsider our negotiation strategy,” the group’s statement said, because Israel was not negotiating in good faith by continuing its offensive in Rafah.

Earlier this week, Hamas said it had accepted a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire deal that would end the war and bring about the phased release of some of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Israel swiftly rejected the deal, saying it did not meet “core demands,” and hours later sent tanks to capture the Rafah crossing. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Hamas’ demands for a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza “extreme.”

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WON'T CONCLUDE ISRAEL VIOLATED TERMS OF U.S. WEAPONS AGREEMENT, AP SOURCES SAY

WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be released Biden administration report to Congress does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons.

That’s according to three people who have been briefed on the national security memorandum to be submitted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to lawmakers. All three requested anonymity to discuss the matter before the report’s release.

The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel, even though it didn’t conclude that Israel violated terms of U.S.-Israel weapons agreements, according to one U.S. official.

A presidential directive mandated the review of whether Israel had complied with international law in its use of U.S.-provided weapons and other security support during the course of the war.

The Biden administration’s first-of-its-kind assessment of its close ally’s conduct of the war comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Any finding against Israel could endanger Biden’s support in this year’s presidential elections from some voters who keenly support Israel.

A senior Biden administration official said the memorandum is expected to be released later Friday, but declined to comment on the findings.

Human rights groups long have accused Israeli security forces of committing abuses against Palestinians and have accused Israeli leaders of failing to hold those responsible to account.

Israel says that it is following all U.S. and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas.

As the suffering of Palestinian civilians grew, Biden and his administration edged away from their initial unwavering public support of Israel and began to criticize its conduct of the war.