Israel-Hamas war latest: Leaders of France, Germany and Britain endorse push for cease-fire in Gaza

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain in a joint statement have endorsed the latest push by mediators United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war. “In addition to human losses, it could result in significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and more sustained damage to economic activity and investment, leading to a further deterioration of Israel’s credit metrics.” Fitch added: “Israel is likely to maintain a stronger presence along its borders than in the past, plans to widen mandatory draft and to increase domestic military production, which would also add to spending.” Responding to the rating decision in a post on the social platform X, Israel’s hard-line Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described his nation as being in “the midst of an existential war, the longest and most expensive in its history.” “The downgrade following the war and the geopolitical risks it creates is natural,” he wrote. United Nations condemns continued loss of life in Gaza, sets Security Council meeting after Israeli airstrike on school UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Tuesday to discuss Gaza in the wake of this weekend’s Israeli airstrike on a school that was being used as a shelter, and the world body’s leader is calling the strike “devastating.” Secretary-General António Guterres made that remark and condemned “the continued loss of life in Gaza” in a post Monday on the social media platform X. Algeria called for the urgent Security Council meeting after missiles hit the school Saturday. National security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that “it is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there’s an attack by Iran or its proxies what it could look like,” but that the U.S. and its allies were preparing for “a significant set of attacks.” This comes after the Pentagon beefed up the U.S. military posture in the Middle East, and after Biden held a call Monday morning with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom to coordinate their response to tensions in the region. His office said that “would be an important contribution to regional de-escalation.” Israel’s military says weekend strike on school-turned-shelter killed 31 militants JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says a strike on a school-turned-shelter over the weekend killed 31 Palestinian militants.