U.S. and Philippine forces, backed by an Australian air force surveillance aircraft, have unleashed a barrage of high-precision rockets, artillery fire and airstrikes and sank a mock enemy ship as part of largescale war drills in and near the disputed South China Sea that have antagonized Beijing. Military officials and diplomats watched the display of firepower from a hilltop on Wednesday. Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over China’s increasingly assertive actions to defend its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. Last year, the Philippines approved a wider U.S. military presence in the archipelago. China opposed the move, which puts U.S. forces across the sea from Taiwan. The Philippines countered it has the right to defend its sovereignty.

Gaza’s vital Rafah crossing remained closed early Wednesday after an Israeli tank brigade seized it the day before. Associated Press journalists heard sporadic explosions and gunfire in the area overnight, including two large blasts early Wednesday. Rafah has been a vital conduit for humanitarian aid since the start of the war and is the only place where people can enter and exit. Israel now controls all of Gaza’s border crossings for the first time since it withdrew troops and settlers from the territory nearly two decades ago. The U.N. says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine.”

The Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict on whether Israel's conduct of its war in Gaza complies with international and U.S. laws. The decision is due from the administration on Wednesday. However, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said that deadline may slip. The formal assessment of whether Israel has used U.S. weapons and other military assistance lawfully is mandated under a directive issued by President Joe Biden in February. The White House agreed to the review under pressure from Democratic lawmakers. A growing number of those Democrats, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, have demanded the U.S. start conditioning military aid to Israel in light of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Israeli forces have taken control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the Gaza Strip, pressing on with an offensive in the southern city as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain precarious. The incursion comes after the militant group on Monday said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated cease-fire proposal. Israel insisted the deal did not meet its core demands. The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive — but only barely — for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.