MORE DEATHS
Gaza’s Civil Defence agency and hospitals reported several more deaths from strikes in Gaza’s north, centre and in Rafah.
The United Nations says more than 70 per cent of Gaza’s residential buildings have been completely or partly destroyed, and rebuilding will require an effort unseen since World War II.
Accepting a ceasefire deal with Israel should be a “no-brainer” for Hamas, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday.
“The reality in this moment is the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” Blinken said.
The World Health Organization says 1.2 million people, half of Gaza’s population, have sought refuge in Rafah. Aid groups say an invasion would only add to an existing humanitarian catastrophe.
On Friday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed deep concern “that a full-scale military operation in Rafah, Gaza, could lead to a bloodbath”.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said a military operation in Rafah could “strike a disastrous blow” to agencies struggling to provide aid.
“OPEN MIND”
Al-Qahera News, linked to Egyptian intelligence services, quoted an unnamed high-ranking source as saying “there is significant progress in the negotiations” and that the Egyptian mediators have “reached an agreed-upon formula on most points of contention”.
The senior Hamas official told AFP that the movement “looks with an open mind to changes in the occupation’s (Israel’s) position and the American position, but there are issues that must be addressed”.
On Friday senior Hamas official Hossam Badran accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the latest proposal with his threats to keep fighting with or without a deal.
Badran said Netanyahu’s insistence on attacking Rafah was calculated to “thwart any possibility of concluding an agreement”.
Protesters in Israel have also accused Netanyahu of seeking to prolong the war.
The prime minister, on trial for corruption charges he denies, leads a coalition which includes religious and ultra-nationalist parties.
Demonstrators have regularly taken to Israeli streets demanding the government reach a deal to bring home the hostages.
In their October attack, the militants seized hostages, of whom 128 remain in Gaza, including 35 who the military says are dead.
Blinken on Friday also reiterated Washington’s objections to a Rafah offensive, saying Israel has not presented a plan to protect the civilians sheltering there.
During the only previous truce, over one week in November, 80 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
