Israel vowed Wednesday to press on with a “powerful” operation in war-torn Gaza’s Rafah, even as calls mounted for it to hold off sending troops into the territory’s overcrowded far-southern city.
“We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Hebrew statement on Telegram.
His pledge came as negotiations to pause the Israel-Hamas war headed into a second day and as deadly cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement stoked fears of wider conflict.
Mediators in Egypt were hoping to secure a ceasefire that would see more hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as Israel prepares for a full-scale ground incursion into Rafah.
A Hamas source told AFP that a delegation was headed to Cairo to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Tuesday.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged Hamas to “quickly complete a prisoner deal, to spare our Palestinian people from the calamity of another catastrophic event”.
CIA director William Burns had joined Tuesday’s talks with David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, which Egyptian media said had been mostly “positive”.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the negotiations “constructive and moving in the right direction”.
Netanyahu said Israel would push for the release of hostages through “strong military pressure and very firm negotiations”.
“And yes, I insist that Hamas drop their delusional demands, and when they drop these demands we can move forward,” he said in a video message released by his office.
With regional tensions high, the Israeli army said rocket fire from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier, while Lebanese state media said Israeli strikes killed three civilians, a woman and two children, and a Hezbollah fighter in south Lebanon.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, more than 240 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them from Hezbollah but also including over 30 civilians.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli troops since the outbreak of the Gaza war, with tens of thousands displaced on both sides.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called Wednesday for a “diplomatic path forward” to try to resolve tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.
– ‘Hanging in the balance’ –
The potential for mass civilian casualties in Rafah triggered urgent appeals — including from close allies — for Israel to hold off sending troops into the last major population centre they have yet to enter in the conflict.
Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped, is also the main entry point for desperately needed relief supplies.
Terrified civilians are desperately seeking safety.
“My three children were injured, where can I go?” Dana Abu Chaaban asked at the border crossing with Egypt, where she was hoping to cross with her bandaged-up sons.
Pressure has grown on Egypt to open its border to Palestinian civilians, hundreds of thousands of whom have sought shelter in makeshift camps by the border where they face outbreaks of disease and a scarcity of food and water.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that “a new phase of the conflict is unfolding”, and called for the protection of civilian lives.
“In view of a military operation in densely populated Rafah, we renew our call on the parties to the conflict, and all who have influence on them, to spare and protect civilian lives and infrastructure,” said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director for the Near and Middle East.
“It is urgent to do more now. Countless lives are hanging in the balance.”
US President Joe Biden has also said civilians in Rafah “need to be protected”, but Netanyahu has insisted “complete victory” cannot be achieved without eliminating Hamas in the city.
– Hospital fears –
The Israeli military has kept up its bombardment of Gaza, with strikes on both Rafah and the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Wednesday that 104 people had been killed overnight.
Fears were also growing over southern Gaza’s Nasser hospital, where a nurse said snipers were killing people, sewage had flooded the emergency room and drinking water had run out.
Mohammed al-Astal, 39, said the facility had been “besieged” for a month.
“At night, tanks opened heavy fire on the hospital and snipers on the roofs of buildings surrounding Nasser hospital opened fire and killed three displaced people,” he said.
Israel’s military said troops have been “thoroughly instructed” to protect civilians and medical facilities.
The World Health Organization said it had been unable to contact the besieged hospital for weeks.
– ‘Terrible hell’ –
Some Gazans in Rafah were packing their belongings in readiness to move but others vowed to stay put, fearing even greater misery and starvation in the bombed-out hometowns they fled.
Ahlam Abu Assi said she “would rather die” in Rafah than return to the famine-like conditions facing relatives who stayed in Gaza City.
“My son and his children have nothing to eat. They cook a handful of rice and save it for the next day,” she said. “My grandson cries from hunger.”
The Hamas attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
At least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s response, according to the latest Gaza health ministry figures.
Around 130 of an estimated 250 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants during the attack are believed to remain in Gaza. Israel says 29 of them are presumed dead.
Two hostages rescued in a raid in Rafah on Monday had now been discharged from hospital, a doctor said.
On Wednesday, around 100 representatives of the remaining hostages flew to The Hague to file a “crimes against humanity” charge against Hamas leaders at the International Criminal Court.
And Spain and Ireland asked the European Union to “urgently” examine whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza under an accord linking rights to trade ties.
