Israeli forces on Thursday bombed areas in the Egyptian border town of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population (2.3 million people) are sheltering in harsh conditions, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reject a proposal to end the war in the Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas' proposed terms for a ceasefire that would also involve the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group were "delusional" and vowed to keep fighting, saying victory was within reach and just months away. distance.
The rejection came after intense diplomatic attempts to end a conflict that has already dragged on for four and a half months in the face of threats of an Israeli attack on Rafah, which is now home to more than a million people, many of them in makeshift tents. and without food or medicine.
Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel follows through on its threat to enter one of the last remaining areas of the Gaza Strip that its troops have not entered during its ground offensive.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that moving toward Rafah, on the border with Egypt, would "increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences."
Israel says it takes measures to prevent civilian casualties and accuses Hamas militants of using them as human shields, including in schools and hospitals, leading to more civilian deaths. Hamas has denied this.
Israeli jets bombed areas of Rafah on Thursday morning killing at least 11 people in attacks on two houses. Tanks also shelled some areas of eastern Rafah, intensifying residents' fears of an imminent ground attack.
"We have our backs to the (border) fence and facing the Mediterranean. Where should we go?" said Emad, 55, a displaced father of six. "There is nowhere to go. More than a million and a half people today are asking this question: where will we go?" he told Reuters via a chat app.
Despite Israel's rejection of the Hamas proposal, more talks are planned and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war, said he saw room for more negotiations.
At a news conference at a Tel Aviv hotel on Wednesday, Blinken said elements of the proposal put forward by Hamas clearly contained "non-viable" points, without saying what they were. "But we also see room in what came next to continue negotiations, to see if we can reach an agreement. That is what we intend to do," he said.
A Hamas delegation led by one of its leaders, Khalil Al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for ceasefire talks with Egypt and Qatar, the mediators in the latest diplomatic effort.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, proposed a four-and-a-half-month ceasefire, during which all hostages held in Gaza would be released, Israel would withdraw its troops from Gaza and a deal would be reached to end the war.
Hamas' offer was a response to a proposal drawn up by U.S. and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to Hamas last week by mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
Israel would be willing to allow Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar to go into exile in exchange for the release of all hostages and the end of Hamas rule in Gaza, a half-dozen senior Israeli officials and advisers told NBC News. .
Israel began its military offensive after Hamas militants in Gaza killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli counts.
The Israeli military said Thursday that over the past day its troops had killed more than 20 Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, site of some of the heaviest fighting of the war so far.
Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 27,585 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and thousands more are feared buried under rubble since the start of Israel's offensive.
Israeli shelling continued overnight in Khan Younis and Deir-Al-Balah in central Gaza, killing a Palestinian television journalist, Nafez Abdel-Jawwad, and his son.
