Israeli air strikes kill 13 in Rafah after Netanyahu rejects Hamas’ ceasefire terms
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Washington intends to see ‘if we can get to an agreement’ between Israel and Hamas
- Hamas proposed a 4½-month truce, freeing all hostages, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
Israeli air strikes killed at least 13 people overnight into Thursday in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ ceasefire terms and said he would expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town.
Rafah is the main entry point for humanitarian aid and more than half of Gaza’s population has fled there seeking refuge. Egypt has said any operation there or mass displacement across the border would undermine its four-decade-old peace treaty with Israel.
Two women and five children were among those killed in the air strikes, according to the Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies.
Israel’s military has so far ordered Palestinians to evacuate two-thirds of the tiny coastal enclave. Many of the displaced are living in squalid tent camps near Gaza’s southern border with Egypt and in overflowing UN-run shelters. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving.
Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ latest offer for a ceasefire and return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was still room for negotiation toward an agreement.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, proposed a ceasefire of 4½ months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from Gaza and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.
