US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant discussed their “shared desire” for the “enduring defeat of Hamas” in a phone call, Al Jazeera reports according to a statement from a Pentagon press secretary.

Austin also “stressed the importance of increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance [to Gaza] through all land crossings” and Israel’s Ashdod port, with the impending permanent closure of the troubled US temporary pier off Gaza’s coast.