* Fed minutes due at 1900 GMT

* Gold lowest since Dec. 21

* Silver hits three-week low

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell to a near two-week low on Wednesday as the dollar strengthened, while investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting for cues on the timing of potential interest rate cuts.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at $2,042.99 per ounce as of 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), lowest since Dec. 21. U.S. gold futures fell 1.1% to $2,051.50 per ounce.

The dollar index firmed 0.3%, making gold more expensive for other currency holders.

"For precious metals to start a next leg up, we're going to have to see some of those rate cuts start happening," said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at EverBank.

"If the Fed minutes show that there is a lot of divergences about where interest rates are going, with some members saying we need to stay higher for longer, that will hurt prices."

Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

Traders are now pricing in about a 75% chance of a 25-basis point rate cut at the March meeting, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

The U.S. central bank's December policy meeting minutes are due at 2 p.m. ET (1900 GMT). Investors are also keenly awaiting a slew of U.S. economic data this week, including the non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

"Despite the Fed's capitulation on forward guidance on 13 December, there remains a large gap between the market's expectations of aggressive rate cuts and the Fed's most recent 'dot plot' projection," Mike Ingram, market analyst at Kinesis Money, said.

Markets are also monitoring developments in the Middle East as Israeli forces kept up their assault on the Gaza Strip and told civilians to leave a refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian enclave after the war reached into Lebanon with the killing in Beirut of the Hamas deputy leader.

Spot silver fell 2.4% to $23.08 per ounce, hitting its lowest since Dec. 13, 2023. Platinum was down 1.3% at $969.50 and palladium fell 1.3% to $1,066.96 per ounce.

(Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar)