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Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 40 Palestinians, with more than half of the dead in the southern Gaza city of Rafah where bombs hit three houses, medics said, as Hamas leaders arrived in Cairo for a new round of truce talks.
In Gaza City, in the north of Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least six people and wounding several others, health officials said.
With nightfall, an Israeli air strike on a house in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed three Palestinians, including a local journalist, medics and Hamas media said.
They added that six other people were killed in other central Gaza areas in separate Israeli air strikes.
Israel’s military said two soldiers were killed in central Gaza yesterday.
The armed wing of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets into Israel, signaling the group was still able to launch rocket attacks after nearly seven months of the Israeli air and ground offensive.
The strikes on Rafah, where almost half of Gaza’s 2.3million population have sought refuge from months of Israeli bombardment, unfolded hours before Egypt was expected to host leaders of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to discuss prospects for a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Asked about the Rafah strikes, an Israeli military (IDF) spokesperson said fighter jets had “struck terror targets where terrorists were operating within a civilian area in southern Gaza”, declining to give details.
“The IDF will continue to foil terrorist activity and protect Israeli civilians in accordance with international law,” the spokesperson said.
At a Rafah hospital, relatives of those killed in the Israeli strikes came to take the bodies away for burial.
“His name is Deif-Allah (meaning guest in Arabic) and he was indeed a guest. He came as a guest after (his parents) longed for (him) for so long, after 10 years,” said Abu Taha, holding the body of his baby boy, wrapped in a white shroud.
“Ten people (were killed), the mother, her daughter, her granddaughters, her grandson, her son-in-law, their daughters and relatives, everyone. They’re all gone, all 10 of them,” he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to swiftly accept an Israeli proposal for a truce in the Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Mr Blinken said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide and they have to decide quickly,” he said. “I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is also attending the WEF, said Egypt was hopeful about a proposal for a truce and the release of hostages in Gaza, but it was awaiting a response on the plan from Israel and Hamas.
“We are hopeful the proposal has taken into account the positions of both sides, has tried to extract moderation from both sides, and we are waiting to have a final decision,” Mr Shoukry said.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was also in Riyadh for the WEF meeting, described the Israeli proposal as “generous”.
It included a 40-day pause in fighting and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners as well as Israeli hostages, he told a WEF audience.
“I hope Hamas do take this deal and frankly, all the pressure in the world and all the eyes in the world should be on them today saying ‘take that deal’,” Mr Cameron said.
Mr Cameron is among several foreign ministers in Riyadh, including from the US, France and Jordan, as part of a diplomatic push to bring an end to the Gaza war.
A Palestinian official close to mediation efforts told Reuters: “Things look better this time,” but he declined to say whether an agreement was imminent.
Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Its military operation has now killed 34,488 Palestinians and wounded 77,643, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The war has displaced most of the 2.3 million population and destroyed much of the enclave.
The conflict was prompted by an attack by Hamas militants on Israel on 7 October in which they killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
An assault on Rafah, which Israel said is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza, has been anticipated for weeks but foreign governments and the United Nations have expressed concern that such action could result in a humanitarian disaster given the number of displaced people currently in the area.
Mr Blinken reiterated that the United States – Israel’s main diplomatic supporter and weapons supplier – could not back an Israeli ground assault on Rafah if there was no plan to ensure that civilians would not be harmed.
Mr Blinken also said the United States and Saudi Arabia had done “intense work together” over the past few months towards a normalisation accord between the kingdom and Israel – a goal that has been disrupted by the Gaza war.
“To move forward with normalisation, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” he said.
In return for normalisation, Arab states are pushing for Israel to accept a pathway to Palestinian statehood on land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war – something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah also said that an accord between Washington and Riyadh over normalisation was “very, very close”.
Hamas officials said yesterday that a delegation led by Khalil Al-Hayya, the group’s deputy Gaza chief, would discuss a ceasefire proposal handed by Hamas to mediators from Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response.
Mediators, backed by the United States, have stepped up their efforts to conclude a deal.
Two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters did not disclose details of the latest proposals, but a source briefed on the talks told Reuters that Hamas was expected to respond to Israel’s latest truce proposal delivered on Saturday.
The source said this included an agreement to accept the release of fewer than 40 hostages in exchange for releasing Palestinians held in Israeli jails and to a second phase of a truce that includes a “period of sustained calm” – Israel’s compromise response to a Hamas demand for a permanent ceasefire.
After the first phase, Israel would allow free movement between south and north Gaza and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the source said.
In Tel Aviv, the families of two Israeli hostages who appeared in a video issued by Hamas over the weekend held a press conference, calling for an immediate deal that would secure the release of some 130 hostages still held in Gaza.
“I want to ask everyone to stop the talking and start the actions. We are losing people that are alive now and there is no time to waste,” said Elan Siegel, daughter of Keith Siegel, a 64-year-old dual US citizen taken captive with his wife Aviva, who was released during a brief November truce.
“We also know a deal is possible. Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States – we trust you and we urge you to do everything and bring our people home now,” she said.
A senior Hamas official told Reuters today’s talks in Cairo would take place between the Hamas delegation and the Qatari and Egyptian mediators to discuss remarks the group has made over the Israeli response to its recent proposal.
“Hamas has some questions and inquiries over the Israeli response to its proposal, which the movement received from mediators on Friday,” the official told Reuters.
Those comments suggested Hamas might not hand an instant response to mediators over Israel’s latest proposal.
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