UPDATE - Attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinians in West Bank must stop: US

ADDS US DEFENSE CHIEF'S MEETING WITH ISRAELI PREMIER

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) – Attacks by "extremist settlers" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank "must stop," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Monday.

"Attacks by extremist settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and those committing the violence must be held accountable," Austin said at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv.

Austin is on a Middle East tour to Qatar, Israel, and Bahrain. He and Gallant discussed the ongoing war in Gaza, the protection of civilians, and the recent attacks on vessels in the Red Sea by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

"I also discussed the need to take urgent action to stabilize the West Bank," said the US defense chief.

Reiterating that US support for Israeli security is "unshakable," he said Washington would keep pushing "relentlessly" for the safe return of hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Austin emphasized that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza, pummeled by weeks of Israeli attacks, is both "a moral duty and a strategic imperative," while vowing to "continue to urge the protection of civilians during conflict and to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza."

- 'More humanitarian assistance in Gaza needed'

He also said Israelis and Palestinians "deserve a horizon of hope," adding: "It is in the interests of both people to support the two-state solution living side by side in mutual security."

Separately, Austin also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his second visit to Israel since Oct. 7.

"America's commitment to Israel is unwavering and no individual, group or state should test our resolve," he said along with Netanyahu.

The US will continue to support Israel's mission to find and free all of the hostages, Austin said.

"We must get more humanitarian assistance in to the nearly two million displaced people in Gaza and we must distribute that aid better," he stressed.

Israel's air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas have killed more than 19,450 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The war has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.