Israel Strikes Gaza As US Says Rafah Attack 'not Imminent'

Gaza Strip, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2024) Israel bombed targets in Gaza on Tuesday as mediators in Cairo sought progress towards a truce and hostage deal and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israeli troops would launch a ground invasion of Rafah.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had no indication of an "imminent" Israeli assault on the city, the last in the Gaza Strip yet to be the target of a ground invasion and where around 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Under the latest ceasefire proposal, fighting would stop for six weeks, about 40 women and child hostages in Gaza would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and up to 500 aid trucks would enter Gaza per day, a Hamas source has said.

While mediator Qatar awaits Hamas's latest response, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said some public remarks from the Palestinian militant group had been "less than encouraging".

Hamas had said earlier it "appreciates" the efforts from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States, but accused Israel of failing to respond to its demands including a full withdrawal of forces from Gaza.

Despite growing pressure from top ally the United States, Netanyahu stressed Israel would pursue the twin goals of bringing home "all our hostages"....

In a video message released on Monday, the premier said Israeli forces would storm Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, despite global concern for the fate of Palestinian civilians sheltering there.

"It will happen -- there is a date," he vowed without saying when he plans to send troops into the city.

Netanyahu reiterated that message on Tuesday during a visit to a military base, saying: "No force in the world will stop us."

US officials renewed their objections to such an operation, following a phone call last week between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu.

"A full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect" on civilians trapped there and "would ultimately hurt Israel's security", said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken said on Tuesday that Israel had not shared with Washington "any date for an operation" in Rafah.

He said he did not expect Israel to launch an invasion before new talks due next week in Washington, adding, "for that matter, I don't see anything imminent".

Israel has invited tenders for 40,000 large tents, according to a document on the defence ministry website -- part of its preparations to evacuate Rafah ahead of an offensive, a government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.