Kevin de Bruyne injury scare as Man City is held 0-0 by Inter Milan in the Champions League

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City faces a new injury concern for Kevin de Bruyne ahead of a showdown with Premier League title rival Arsenal after the playmaker was substituted at halftime of Wednesday's Champions League match against Inter Milan.

The Belgium international looked in discomfort after making a run late in the first half. After receiving treatment, De Bruyne didn't return for the second half and was replaced by Ilkay Gundogan. The game ended 0-0.

City hosts title rival Arsenal at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

City manager Pep Guardiola said he didn't know the extent of De Bruyne's injury, but was informed by the club doctor the playmaker could not carry on in the second half.

“I didn’t speak with the doctors yet," Guardiola said about De Bruyne' availability for the weekend. "(He will be) Assessed tonight, maybe tomorrow. We will have more info tomorrow.”

De Bruyne endured an injury-disrupted campaign last season when he was sidelined from August to January with a hamstring problem. He returned to help the club secure a record fourth straight English title.

He has started every game this season and scored in City's 4-1 win against Ipswich last month.

City held off challenges from Arsenal in each of the last two seasons to lift the title. The north London club is expected to be City's main rival again this term.

Arsenal has its own injury problems ahead of the game after captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out with ankle ligament damage.

Without De Bruyne, City failed to find a breakthrough against Inter and was shut out at home in the Champions League for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon in March 2022.

It was only the second time in all competitions since then that Guardiola's team failed to score at home — the other coming in a 0-0 with Arsenal in the league in March.

City extended its unbeaten home run in European games to 32, dating back to a 2-1 loss to Lyon in 2018.

Erling Haaland has looked unstoppable this season with nine goals in his first four games of the campaign before Wednesday match. But that run was snapped by Inter with the Norway striker stuck on 99 goals for City.

Haaland also failed to score against the Italians when the teams met in the Champions League final in 2023, which City won 1-0 to lift the trophy for the first time in its history.

“They are masters of defending,” Guardiola said.

With his contract expiring at the end of the season, Guardiola sounds like he's still loving life at City.

Asked by an Italian journalist if he could see himself working in Italy in the future, Guardiola said: "I really enjoy being here. I love English football, it is fantastic, really enjoyable. They leave you alone to get on with the job. That doesn't happen anywhere else.

“It's a great club. I really feel good being here.”

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi, right, during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts after a missed scoring opportunity during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, right, shoots during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, left, gestures end of the first half during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, right, and Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni, left, challenge for the ball during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, center, gestures as he speaks medical staff end of the first half during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned their Israeli counterparts in a letter dated Sunday that the changes must occur. The letter, which restates U.S. policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers, was sent amid deteriorating conditions in northern Gaza and an Israeli airstrike on a hospital tent site in central Gaza that killed at least four people and burned others.

A similar letter that Blinken sent to Israeli officials in April led to more humanitarian assistance getting to the Palestinian territory, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday. But that has not lasted.

“In fact, it’s fallen by over 50% from where it was at its peak," Miller said at a briefing. Blinken and Austin "thought it was appropriate to make clear to the government of Israel that there are changes that they need to make again, to see that the level of assistance making it into Gaza comes back up from the very, very low levels that it is at today.”

For Israel to continue qualifying for foreign military financing, the level of aid getting into Gaza must increase to at least 350 trucks a day, Israel must institute additional humanitarian pauses and provide increased security for humanitarian sites, Austin and Blinken said in their letter. They said Israel had 30 days to respond to the requirements.

“The letter was not meant as a threat," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "The letter was simply meant to reiterate the sense of urgency we feel and the seriousness with which we feel it, about the need for an increase, a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance.”

An Israeli official confirmed a letter had been delivered but did not discuss the contents. That official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a diplomatic matter, confirmed the U.S. had raised “humanitarian concerns” and was putting pressure on Israel to speed up the flow of aid into Gaza.

The letter, which an Axios reporter posted a copy of online, was sent during a period of growing frustration in the administration that despite repeated and increasingly vocal requests to scale back offensive operations against Hamas, Israel’s bombardment has led to unnecessary civilian deaths and risks plunging the region into a much wider war.

“We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government, including halting commercial imports, denying or impeding 90 percent of humanitarian movements” and other restrictions have kept aid from flowing, Blinken and Austin said.

The Biden administration is increasing its calls for its ally and biggest recipient of U.S. military aid to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza while assuring that America's support for Israel is unwavering just before the U.S. presidential election in three weeks.

Funding for Israel has long carried weight in U.S. politics, and Biden said this month that “no administration has helped Israel more than I have.”

Humanitarian aid groups fear that Israeli leaders may approve a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out Hamas, which could trap hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are unwilling or unable to leave their homes without food, water, medicine and fuel.

U.N. humanitarian officials said last week that aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months. The three hospitals operating minimally in northern Gaza are facing “dire shortages” of fuel, trauma supplies, medications and blood, and while meals are being delivered each day, food is dwindling, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

“There is barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in just days without any additional fuel,” he said.

The U.N. humanitarian office reported that Israeli authorities facilitated just one of its 54 efforts to get to the north this month, Dujarric said. He said 85% of the requests were denied, with the rest impeded or canceled for logistical or security reasons.

COGAT, the Israeli body facilitating aid crossings into Gaza, denied that crossings to the north have been closed.

U.S. officials said the letter was sent to remind Israel of both its obligations under international humanitarian law and of the Biden administration’s legal obligation to ensure that the delivery of American humanitarian assistance should not be hindered, diverted or held up by a recipient of U.S. military aid.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas has killed over 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians but has said a little more than half the dead are women and children. The Hamas attacks killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and militants abducted another 250.

The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project.

That aid has enabled Israel to purchase billions of dollars worth of munitions it has used in its operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. However, many of those strikes also have killed civilians in both areas.

AP reporter Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vientiane, Laos, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Tang Chhin Sothy/Pool Photo via AP)