Reuters World News Summary

The Israeli military said its troops had advanced into the heart of Gaza City, Hamas' main bastion and the biggest city in the seaside enclave, while the Islamist group said its fighters had inflicted heavy losses. Israeli army shows devastation in northern Gaza as invasion grinds on Blackened windows, shattered bedrooms, pockmarked walls.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

White House's Bernstein says Washington keeping close eye on Mideast conflict

U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jared Bernstein said on Wednesday he did not "thus far" see the Israel-Gaza war as an exogenous shock that could derail U.S. economic growth, but noted that Washington was watching its impact on oil prices.

Bernstein said he remained generally upbeat about the U.S. economy, and did not expect a possible government shutdown to result in a recession, although it was hard to be sure without knowing the length of any potential disruption.

Zelenskiy hopes for "planet of dogs" to solve world's crises

Apart from a detailed peace plan to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has a less conventional idea for ending geopolitical crises like these: let dogs run the world. In the rare downtime he gets as a wartime leader, Zelenskiy, speaking to Reuters by video link on Wednesday, suggested man's best friend might fare better when it comes to getting along on the global stage.

G7 calls for humanitarian pauses in Gaza, hostages' release

G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday called for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas war to allow in aid and help the release of hostages, and sought a return to a broader peace process. Ending a two-day meeting in Tokyo as Israeli forces continued to pound the Gaza Strip, the Group of Seven wealthy nations said in a joint statement that Israel had the right to defend itself. But they also underscored the need to protect civilians and to comply with international humanitarian law.

Analysis-More questions than answers as Israeli PM Netanyahu seeks security control over Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration this week that Israel would take control of security in Gaza for an indefinite period has added to uncertainty over the future of the besieged enclave, more than a month into the war. Israeli officials have since tried to make clear they do not intend to reoccupy Gaza, from which Israeli forces withdrew in 2005, but there has been no clarity on how to ensure security without maintaining a military presence in the territory.

Israeli, Hamas fighters in close combat in Gaza City as civilians flee

Israeli forces and Hamas militants appeared to be battling at close range in Gaza City as thousands of civilians fled south on Wednesday to avoid being trapped in the heart of the conflict. The Israeli military said its troops had advanced into the heart of Gaza City, Hamas' main bastion and the biggest city in the seaside enclave, while the Islamist group said its fighters had inflicted heavy losses.

Israeli army shows devastation in northern Gaza as invasion grinds on

Blackened windows, shattered bedrooms, pockmarked walls. Wherever you look in northern Gaza, you see destruction and desolation a month into Israel's military campaign to oust Hamas from the enclave. Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a rare view of their advance into the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, driving them along sandy routes, churned by tank tracks, to the fringes of Gaza City.

El Nino rains wipe out Paraguay neighborhoods, with more to come

Heavy rains caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon has sent hundreds to shelters in the town of Ayolas in southern Paraguay, with residents bracing for more flooding on the way. At least five neighborhoods in the town, about 186 miles (300 km) from capital Asuncion, were left under water after storms last week caused the Parana River to burst its banks.

Gaza family loses three generations to air strike

The Israeli air strike hit Mohammed Hamdan's Gaza home soon after Islam's evening prayer on Tuesday, he said, killing 35 members of his extended family across three generations from Kamal, aged 70, to Rasmi, aged seven. Hamdan, 50, was buried by his collapsing house and it took an hour and a half to pull him out, he said. He emerged to discover he had lost his daughter Malak, brother Ahmed, his nephew, nieces and many cousins.

Ukraine hails 'historic step' as EU takes Kyiv closer to membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised as a "historic step" a recommendation by the European Union executive on Wednesday to invite Kyiv to begin membership talks as soon as it meets final conditions, even as it fights to repel Russia's war. The recommendation by the European Commission is an important milestone on Kyiv's road to Western integration and a geo-political gambit for the EU as Ukraine has been fighting against a large-scale Russian invasion since February 2022.

Hezbollah's anti-ship missiles bolster its threat to US navy

Powerful Russian anti-ship missiles acquired by Hezbollah give it the means to deliver on its leader's veiled threat against U.S. warships and underline the grave risks of any regional war, sources familiar with the group's arsenal say.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Washington last week his group had something in store for the U.S. vessels deployed to the region since war erupted last month between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel, shaking the wider Middle East.

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