World News Roundup: China decries Taiwan for 'hyping up' military threat, sends warplanes; New exodus causes havoc in central Gaza as Israel pushes advance; China's military lashes out at US after breakthrough talks and more

Further south, Israeli forces struck the area around a hospital in the heart of Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip's main southern city, where residents feared a new ground push into territory crowded with families made homeless in 12 weeks of war. China's military lashes out at US after breakthrough talks China's defence ministry lashed out at the United States on Thursday, a week after their top military officials resumed high-level talks, criticising its continued meddling in the Asia Pacific region and saying it maintained a "Cold War" mindset.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

China decries Taiwan for 'hyping up' military threat, sends warplanes

China's defence ministry accused Taiwan's government on Thursday of deliberately "hyping up" a military threat from China for electoral gain ahead of elections on the island in just over two weeks' time, but again sent warplanes into the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan's Jan. 13 presidential and parliamentary election will shape the Chinese-claimed island's relations with Beijing, which over the past four years has ramped up military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.

New exodus causes havoc in central Gaza as Israel pushes advance

Tens of thousands of already displaced Palestinian families took flight again in a new mass exodus in central Gaza on Thursday, where Israeli forces mounting a major advance pounded areas already teeming with those driven out of the north. Further south, Israeli forces struck the area around a hospital in the heart of Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip's main southern city, where residents feared a new ground push into territory crowded with families made homeless in 12 weeks of war.

China's military lashes out at US after breakthrough talks

China's defence ministry lashed out at the United States on Thursday, a week after their top military officials resumed high-level talks, criticising its continued meddling in the Asia Pacific region and saying it maintained a "Cold War" mindset. Both sides had pledged at the talks to work towards restoration of contacts to avert miscalculation and misunderstanding, with the U.S. calling for "more work" to ensure military communications stayed open and reliable.

Ukraine's frontline children yearn for return to classroom

Sitting alone in her bedroom, Ukrainian third-grader Arina Herasymova cuts an image of loneliness as she stares at her teacher and classmates on a screen. "I would like to go to school, to lessons. To play with friends during recess, not sit at home," she said.

Israeli raids in West Bank target Hamas funding

Israeli forces raided foreign exchange and money transfer agencies in Ramallah and other cities in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, seizing millions of dollars suspected of being intended to fund the Islamist group Hamas, the military said. At least one person was killed and 14 others were wounded in a clash between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the centre of Ramallah, the main city in the West Bank and the seat of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Germany in talks with EU partners on Red Sea maritime mission

Germany and its European Union partners are examining whether they could mount a new maritime mission to protect commercial vessels under threat of attack in the Red Sea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. "We as the German government are ready for this. It is important that we as the EU are able to act as quickly as possible in view of the ongoing attacks," the spokesperson said, adding that a decision on the matter had not yet been taken.

US allies reluctant on Red Sea task force

U.S. President Joe Biden hoped to present a firm international response to Yemen's Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping by launching a new maritime force, but a week after its launch many allies don't want to be associated with it, publicly, or at all. Two of America's European allies who were listed as contributors to Operation Prosperity Guardian - Italy and Spain - issued statements appearing to distance themselves from the maritime force.

Russia says some in the West are hinting at looking for peace in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that some in the West were suggesting that Moscow should discuss peace in Ukraine because the United States and its allies had failed to defeat Russian forces in Ukraine. Nearly two years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow controls about 17.5% of Ukrainian territory and a Ukrainian counter-offensive this year has failed to win any major territorial gains against Russian forces who have defended the front with extensive mine fields and swarms of drones.

Gaza in 2024: Signs of more devastation, open-ended occupation

The war aims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gaza's Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar look unattainable in 2024, and their fight may consign the Palestinian territory to yet more devastation and an open-ended Israeli occupation.

Netanyahu seeks to obliterate Hamas for its attack on Oct. 7, Israel's bloodiest day ever, seemingly willing to raze much of Gaza to the ground and risk reimposing a military occupation in the enclave Israel left in 2005.

Sudan RSF leader visits Ethiopia in first public wartime tour

The leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo visited Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa on Thursday in the second leg of a rare publicly-announced foreign tour. In his first confirmed appearance outside of Sudan since the war between RSF and the Sudanese army broke out in mid-April, Dagalo, whose whereabouts during the war have been unknown, met Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni at his country home on Wednesday.

(With inputs from agencies.)