Blinken arrives in Tel Aviv to meet Netanyahu | First Thing

The US secretary of state is expected to call for localized pauses in fighting to allow aid into Gaza. Plus: Nicolas Cage and the power of dreams

Good morning.

The US secretary of state has arrived in Tel Aviv to meet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel's military pushes further into Gaza City.

Israeli forces have completed the encirclement of Gaza City" and are fighting with full force", according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with troops surrounding it from several directions and deepening the ground offensive inside the city.

The IDF is on very high alert" along Israel's border with Lebanon, with a speech expected this afternoon from Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

In the US, the House of Representatives passed a Republican plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel as it fights Hamas, despite Democrats' insistence that the plan has no future in the Senate and the White House's promise of a veto.

The White House has condemned Fox News over its sickening attack on the rights and dignity" of Arab Americans after the rightwing channel's host Jesse Watters seemed to advocate violence.