American, Egyptian, Israeli and Qatari officials meet in Cairo on Tuesday to seek an agreement on a truce in Gaza while 1.5 million civilians packed into the border town of Rafah fearfully await an Israeli attack. US President Joe Biden warned yesterday in Jordan that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are "exposed and vulnerable" and must be protected. Israel must make "credible" efforts to protect displaced people in the southern city of Gaza, he told Jordan's King Abdullah.
Israeli tanks shelled the eastern sector of the city of Rafah again overnight, residents said, although the planned ground offensive does not appear to have begun.
Israeli forces continue to order civilians elsewhere in the Strip to head to Rafah, but the surge in tank shelling east of the city has sparked waves of panic in the makeshift camps housing the displaced.
About half of Gaza's 2.3 million people now live in the last city before the Egyptian border in desperate conditions.
Israel says it intends to eliminate Hamas fighters operating in Rafah and plans to evacuate civilians, but aid workers and foreign governments report civilians have nowhere to go and Egypt has made clear it will not allow an exodus. of refugees across its border.
Much of the densely populated enclave is in ruins, with 28,473 Palestinians dead and 68,146 injured since October 7, according to Gaza health officials, who announced 133 new Palestinian deaths in the last 24 hours.
Many other people are believed to be buried under the rubble. Supplies of food, water and other essential items are running low and diseases are spreading.
"Since Israel said they would soon invade Rafah... we read our last prayers every night. Every night we say goodbye to each other and to our relatives outside Rafah," says Aya, 30, who lives in a tent with his mother, grandmother and five siblings.
"Unless the world shows some mercy and stops Israel from attacking Rafah, we believe we will not survive. The sounds of shelling and explosions are getting closer and closer," he told Reuters via a chat app.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden and King Abdullah of Jordan kept up the pressure for a ceasefire. "The United States is working on a hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas that would bring an immediate and sustained period of calm in Gaza for at least six weeks," Biden told reporters in Washington.
The hostages were taken in the Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel by Hamas militants, an operation that killed 1,200 people and sparked Israel's military offensive. Ensuring their return is a priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
King Abdullah stressed the urgency of the plight of Palestinians, especially those trapped in Rafah. "We cannot stand by and let this continue," he said. "We need a lasting ceasefire now. This war must end."
Biden acknowledged that since the war broke out the Palestinian people "have suffered unimaginable pain and loss." "Too many of the more than 27,000 Palestinians killed in this conflict were innocent civilians and children. Including thousands of children," Biden said, adding: "It's heartbreaking."
In Cairo, senior officials from the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar were scheduled to meet to work on a three-phase framework for the release of hostages aimed at achieving a prolonged pause, sources familiar with the matter said.
Biden has shown growing exasperation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to heed his calls to minimize casualties and protect civilians in Gaza. The US president has urged Israel not to launch a ground offensive in Rafah without a plan to protect Palestinian civilians massed there. The United States is Israel's main ally and largest foreign arms supplier, providing $3.8 billion in military aid annually.
Netanyahu last week ordered Israel's military to create a plan to evacuate civilians during a ground offensive. When asked about those plans, an Israeli military spokesman said Monday that he did not yet know how it would be done.
On Monday, the United Nations stepped up calls for a ceasefire and opposed the idea of moving civilians in Rafah. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters: "We will not be part of the forced displacement of people. As things stand, there is currently nowhere that is safe in Gaza." "You can't send people back to areas filled with unexploded ordnance, not to mention a lack of shelter," he said.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested on Monday that the way to reduce civilian casualties would be to stop arms supplies to Israel.
