US and UK forces have shot down more than 20 drones and missiles over the Red Sea launched by Yemen's Huthis, in what London branded Wednesday the "largest attack" yet by the Iran-backed rebels.

The Western allies' warships and planes took out 18 drones and three missiles in their latest Red Sea military intervention on Tuesday, the US military said.

The Huthis later said they had fired a "large number" of missiles and drones at a US ship, without giving details of timing and location.

The Asian Cup begins on Friday with defending champions Qatar the hosts, Japan favourites and Son Heung-min's South Korea vowing to win the title for the first time in 64 years.

The 24 teams spanning Australia to Palestine will battle for regional glory over the next four weeks, culminating in the final at the 88,000-capacity Lusail Stadium on February 10.

It will take something special to beat the last big game at Lusail -- the World Cup final 13 months ago when an Argentina side inspired by Lionel Messi defeated France on penalties.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to hold talks Wednesday with the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern Gaza after Israel's war with Hamas ends.

The United States' top diplomat was on his fourth crisis visit to the Middle East since the war in the Gaza Strip began, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden was kept in the dark over his defense secretary's cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations for about a month, the White House admitted Tuesday, as details of Lloyd Austin's deeply unusual disappearance raised questions about leadership of the world's top military.

The 70-year-old's failure to disclose his hospitalization has prompted an extraordinary row in Washington and could be embarrassing for Biden, who faces multiple foreign crises in his reelection campaign year, including in Israel and Ukraine.

British government lawyers do not believe Israel has breached international law in its military response to Hamas's deadly October 7 attack, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Tuesday.

But the former prime minister told parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee that some of the things he had seen during the war in the besieged Palestinian territory were "deeply concerning".

"Am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law, because this particular premises has been bombed or whatever?" he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Middle East leaders will attend a World Economic Forum in Davos next week dominated by the war in Gaza, the WEF said Tuesday.

Argentina's libertarian new president, Javier Milei, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will also be among the headliners at the January 15-19 meeting of the world's political and business elites in the Swiss Alps.

The conflict in the Middle East is set to loom over the annual forum, held this year under the theme "Rebuilding Trust".

French driver Sebastien Loeb bounced back the day after a series of punctures to grab his first win of this year's Dakar Rally, edging Saudi race leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi in Tuesday's fourth stage.

The Prodrive competitor -- a former nine-time world rally champion -- finished 1min 08sec ahead of Toyota's Al-Rajhi after 631km of rolling terrain without major difficulty including a 299km special between Al-Salamiya and Al-Hofuf in Saudi Arabia.

Marie-Pascale Radoux has been waiting for three months for news of her son, Orion, still believed held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after their October 7 attack in Israel.

A painter living near Toulouse in southwest France, Radoux urged Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas to reach "a ceasefire, or at least a truce, to allow hostages to be freed".

"There has to be a ceasefire, for the hostages, the civilians, the children, the families, all the hundreds and hundreds of innocent people," the 62-year-old added in an interview with AFP.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken told Israel Tuesday the toll on Gazan civilians caused by its war against Hamas was "far too high", urging his ally to alleviate their suffering.

More than three months into the deadliest ever Gaza war, Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on his fourth round of Middle East crisis diplomacy since the conflict broke out.

Blinken reaffirmed US "support for Israel's right to prevent" a repetition of the unprecedented Hamas attacks of October 7 that sparked the war, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it targeted a command base in northern Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for the killings of one of its commanders and a Hamas leader.

Hezbollah said the attack was part of its response to the killings of top field commander Wissam Tawil on Monday and Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Aruri on January 2.

The Shiite Muslim movement, a Hamas ally, said in a statement that it had targeted the "enemy's northern command centre" in the Israeli city of Safed with "several suicide drones".