Israel launched deadly air strikes on Rafah on Thursday, after threatening to send troops in to hunt for Hamas in the southern Gaza city where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge.
Another 97 people were killed over the past 24 hours in Hamas-run Gaza, the health ministry said, as a US envoy was in Israel for fresh efforts to secure a truce.
International concern has spiralled over the territory’s escalating civilian death toll and the desperate humanitarian crisis sparked by the war that followed Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel.
Brett McGurk, White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, held talks with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, after meeting with other mediators in Cairo.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was in the Egyptian capital for truce talks earlier this week, the group said.
Mediators including the United States, Qatar and Egypt have tried and so far failed to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal, but this week have been making a new push to break the deadlock.
The Israeli defence ministry said the discussion with McGurk covered returning hostages, operational developments in Hamas strongholds in central and southern Gaza, and humanitarian aid efforts, as well as the importance of dismantling remaining Hamas battalions.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists that so far the discussions were going well.
War cabinet member Benny Gantz sounded an optimistic note ahead of McGurk’s arrival, saying efforts to promote a new plan for the return of the hostages were showing the first signs that indicate the possibility of progress.
More than four months of relentless fighting and bombardment have flattened much of Gaza and pushed its population of around 2.4 million to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations.
