Busy Gaza city bombed as negotiators try to revive ceasefire
Airstrikes hit a town on the southern border with Gaza packed with civilians on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced a ceasefire proposal from Hamas and indicated that the Israeli army was preparing to move into the area .
The attacks on two houses in Rafah have killed and injured several people, according to Palestinian news sources, and have increased fear among the more than a million Palestinians who have sought refuge in the city, as the Israeli army has repeatedly warned that it plan is to move further south. its ground invasion.
“There is nowhere for people to run to,” said Fathi Abu Snema, a 45-year-old father of five who has been living at a United Nations-run school in Rafah for almost four months. “Everyone from all other parts of Gaza ended up in Rafah. I don't know where to go.”
The strikes came a day after Mr Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal calling on Israel to withdraw from Gaza, commit to a long-term ceasefire and free Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in return for the release of the remaining Israelis kidnapped during the war. the Hamas-led attack of October 7.
Mr Netanyahu said Hamas's demands were “ridiculous” and that accepting them would only lead to further attacks on Israel. He claimed there was “no solution other than total victory” and said the army had been ordered to prepare to enter Rafah, on the border with Egypt, which he said was one of “the last remaining strongholds of Hamas ” mentioned.
At a news conference in Washington on Thursday, Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, expressed concern about the prospect of an Israeli military incursion into Rafah. “We have not seen any evidence of serious plans for such an operation,” he said.
Mr Patel said it would be 'a disaster' to 'carry out such an operation now, with no planning and little thought'.
While the United Nations also warned of devastating consequences from an expansion of Israel's military offensive, Israeli leaders and Hamas officials said Thursday they were still open to further negotiations to stop the fighting.
“There is agreement among the members of the governing coalition, and especially among individual members of the government, that we must get the hostages back and make a deal,” Miki Zohar, an Israeli minister, said in a radio interview on Thursday morning .
“But not at any price,” Mr. Zohar said. “For example, they will not agree with stopping the war.”
Hamas said in a statement that a delegation led by one of its senior officials, Khalil al-Hayya, had arrived in Cairo on Thursday to take part in ceasefire talks with mediators.
Israeli officials have said they were unwilling to accept another offer that calls for the withdrawal of their troops from Gaza and leaves Hamas in power.
“The total withdrawal of the Israeli forces and an end to this war are obviously not an option,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said on Thursday. “Hamas called for a complete capitulation, giving the country the freedom and courage to commit another massacre.”
Still, Israeli leaders concluded that there was still room for discussion if the proposal Hamas made this week was in the nature of an opening bid, according to two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.
Nadav Shtrauchler, a political analyst who was once Netanyahu's media strategist, said that although the prime minister rejected the offer, he left an opening.
“The door is closed, but the window is still open — not to that deal, which he couldn't accept, but to another deal,” Mr. Shtrauchler said.
Aid groups and the United Nations have repeatedly warned that an advance on Rafah would be devastating because the city is now home to more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, many of whom live in dilapidated tents after being attacked several times. have moved in search of safety.
The Israeli military made no formal announcement about the attacks on Thursday and declined to comment on whether they marked the start of a ground offensive, saying there were no “operational activities.”
A military offensive in Rafah “would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare, with untold regional consequences,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 100 people had been killed in the area in the past 24 hours. More than 27,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the four-month war, health authorities there say. The Hamas-led attack on October 7 killed around 1,200 people, Israelis say.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, an aid agency, warned that a large-scale Israeli military attack on Rafah and the surrounding area would lead to more civilian deaths and risk halting the trickle of humanitarian aid flowing into Rafah from Egypt.
“An extension of hostilities could turn Rafah into an area of bloodshed and destruction from which people cannot escape,” said Angelita Caredda, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Conditions in Rafah are already terrible.”
Some Israeli and American officials have questioned how close Israel is to achieving its goal of defeating Hamas.
U.S. intelligence officials told Congress this week that Israel had downgraded Hamas's fighting capabilities but was not close to eliminating the group, U.S. officials said. That assessment appeared to contradict Netanyahu's statement on Wednesday that victory was “within reach.”
Reporting was contributed by Abu Bakr Bashir, Julian E Barnes And Edward Wong.