By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently invoked his success at resolving international conflicts, casting himself as a global peacemaker while his aides and some foreign leaders push for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

He has found Russia's war in Ukraine to be far more vexing. Trump has put himself squarely in the middle of the diplomatic attempts to bring peace but has wavered on what he's willing to do to achieve it.

The United States on Wednesday defiantly expanded efforts to hobble the International Criminal Court over its prosecution of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sanctioning a judge from ally France.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also targeted a Canadian judge in a separate case in his latest volley of sanctions against the tribunal in The Hague, which is backed by virtually all other Western democracies as a court of last resort.

(Reuters) -Rwanda-backed M23 rebels killed at least 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in July, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Wednesday that highlighted how violence remains elevated despite U.S.- and Qatar-backed peace talks underway.

The advocacy group provided new details about the killing spree first reported by Reuters in July. It said total killings in Rutshuru territory in July may exceed 300, echoing similar findings by the United Nations last month.

Reuters could not independently verify HRW's report.

LONDON (Reuters) -British foreign minister David Lammy said on Wednesday that a widely condemned Israeli settlement plan would, if implemented, constitute a breach of international law and risk dividing a future Palestinian state.

The E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received the final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israel has entered the first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City after a clash with Hamas and already has a hold on the outskirts of the city, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin told reporters on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Howard GollerEditing by Gareth Jones)

ATMEH, Syria (Reuters) -U.S. forces took part in a pre-dawn raid in northwestern Syria early on Wednesday that targeted a member of the Islamic State group, a U.S. official and a Syrian security source said.

A second Syrian security source and Syria's state-owned Al-Ikhbariya said the target was killed as he tried to escape.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week by Smotrich and received final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission on Wednesday, he said.

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) -The mothers of some fighters in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called on Wednesday for an amnesty for their children and an end to decades of death, before a Turkish parliamentary commission overseeing the group's disarmament.

"We mothers do not want to cry anymore. Let us bury weapons, not our children," Nezahat Teke, a Kurdish mother speaking in broken Turkish, told lawmakers on behalf of a group called the "Peace Mothers".

Syrian state media said a US-led anti-jihadist coalition killed an Iraqi leader from the Islamic State group during an operation on Wednesday in the country's northwest.

"Coalition forces carried out an air drop targeting a house in the town of Atme" in Idlib province, state television cited an unidentified security source as saying.

By Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -International aid groups say they have not yet been able to deliver shelter materials to Gaza despite Israeli authorities saying they have lifted restrictions on such supplies, and warn that further delays could cause more Palestinian deaths.

Aid organisations say Israel had in effect been blocking the delivery of materials for shelters for nearly six months, with tent poles previously listed among items Israeli authorities considered could have a military as well as civilian use.