Push for truce ramps up as Israel pummels Gaza

A Palestinian child in the rubble of a house in Rafah, where aid groups fear a looming Israeli invasion will have massive civilian casualties – Copyright AFP Earvin Perias

Laurie Churchman with Robbie Corey-Boulet in Riyadh

Diplomatic efforts increased on Sunday to reach a long sought-after truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Israel carried out further air strikes and shelling on the war-battered territory.

A new video of two hostages being held by Hamas militants since the group’s October 7 attack prompted fresh outrage in Israel, where protesters have piled pressure on the government to reach a deal.

Global opposition to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has also been growing, with world leaders and aid groups warning that a looming Israeli invasion of the southernmost city of Rafah would lead to massive civilian causalities.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appealed to the United States on Sunday to stop Israel from invading Rafah, which he said would be “the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people”.

The US — Israel’s main ally and weapons supplier — was the only nation capable of preventing Israel from “committing this crime”, Abbas told a global economic summit in Saudi Arabia.

Hamas said on Saturday it was studying a new Israeli counterproposal for truce and hostage release, a day after media reports said an Egyptian delegation was in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Hamas has previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire — a condition that Israel has rejected.

However the Axios news website, citing two Israeli officials, reported that Israel’s latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the “restoration of sustainable calm” in Gaza after hostages are released.

It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios said.

– ‘Momentum’ for truce talks –

Abbas spoke at a World Economic Forum (WEF) summit that opened Sunday in Riyadh, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire are also due to attend.

While there is no Israeli participation, other key players will discuss the truce talks and humanitarian situation in Gaza, WEF president Borge Brende said.

There was “some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for… a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza,” he said.

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack which resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34,454 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized by militants on October 7 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The Gaza health ministry on Sunday reported at least 66 deaths in the past 24 hours.

In central Gaza, Mohammed al-Hattab said he found his one-year-old boy in the rubble after an Israeli air strike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp over the weekend.

The boy is being treated for a fractured skull, while his two-year-old daughter’s face was “completely disfigured” in the strike, he told AFP.

Israel carried out air strikes and shelling in Gaza overnight, hitting three houses in the southern city of Khan Yunis, an AFP correspondent said Sunday, also reporting strikes on Gaza City and Rafah.

The Israeli military said its jets struck dozens of terror targets including “launch sites, armed terrorists and observation posts”.

Most of Gaza’s population has taken refuge in Rafah, according to the UN, many in makeshift shelters after fleeing violence elsewhere.

Despite international outcry, Israel has vowed to invade the city, where Israel’s military says Hamas is holding hostages.

On the side of a tent in Rafah on Saturday, a Palestinian wrote a message to the thousands of protesters on US university campuses.

“Thank you, students in solidarity with Gaza, your message has reached,” it read.

– ‘End the bloodshed’ –

A heated rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night was the latest held by protesters demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ensure the release of the hostages.

Just hours earlier, the armed wing of Hamas released a video featuring two of the hostages, Keith Siegel and Omri Miran, who appeared to speak under duress.

“Keep protesting, so that there will be a deal now,” Miran said in the footage.

“We are in danger here, there are bombs, it is stressful and scary,” said Siegel, a 64-year-old US citizen.

Omri Miran’s father Dani called on Hamas to “show humanity” and release the hostages.

“The world wants to see an end to the bloodshed”, he told the Tel Aviv demonstration.

UN humanitarian agency OCHA has warned that “famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks” if a massive amount of food aid does not reach the territory.

A British ship set sail towards Gaza on Saturday which is planned to house hundreds of US troops building a temporary floating pier off the coast to help deliver aid.

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