Israeli airstrikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah have killed at least 22 people, including six women and five children, Palestinian health officials say. One of the children killed in the strikes overnight into Monday was just 5 days old. Hamas is reviewing Israel’s offer for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments in the war in Gaza.
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Summary:
- Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for freeing Israeli hostages, said British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday.
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A Hamas delegation has left Cairo, where it was discussing Israel’s response to a potential ceasefire proposal.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged Hamas to swiftly accept an Israeli proposal for a truce, which he called “extraordinarily generous”.
- Student demonstrators at New York’s Columbia University on Monday defied an ultimatum to disperse or face immediate suspension as protests erupted at several US colleges.
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The US said the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel’s war on Gaza.
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed attacks on four ships in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
- Hamas’s al Qassam Brigades on Monday said its militants in southern Lebanon had launched a slew of rockets at a northern Israeli military position.
- French police broke up a student protest demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
- At least 34,488 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,643 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
04:42am Biden presses Egypt and Qatar on ceasefire, hostage deal
US President Joe Biden on Monday urged the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to “exert all efforts” towards securing the release of hostages held by Hamas as part of negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, the White House said.
Washington, Doha and Cairo have been mediating for months to achieve a truce in the Palestinian territory which has endured relentless bombing by Israel in response to the unprecedented deadly attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7.
Representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Hamas met Monday in Cairo, with the Palestinian Islamist group expected to respond to a proposal for a second truce in Gaza, coupled with a fresh release of hostages.
In separate phone calls Biden spoke with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and discussed “the deal now on the table,” the White House said in nearly identical statements.
Biden urged the leaders “to exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas as this is now the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza,” the White House said.
Fraser Jackson reports from Washington DC
03:50am: Egypt hopeful on Gaza talks, waiting for response, foreign minister says
Egypt is hopeful about a proposal for a truce and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip but is waiting for a final response on the plan from Israel and Hamas, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday.
A Hamas delegation left the Egyptian capital Cairo late on Monday to consult with the group’s leadership on the latest, tweaked proposal and was expected to report back within two days, two Egyptian security sources said.
Egypt, alarmed by the prospect of an Israeli ground operation in Rafah where more than one million people took shelter near its border, has made a renewed push in recent days to revive stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Along with Qatar and the US, Egypt has led efforts in recent months to broker a ceasefire deal for the conflict that would involve the freeing of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 and of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
“We are hopeful the proposal has taken into account the positions of both sides, has tried to extract moderation from both sides, and we are waiting to have a final decision,” Shoukry said on a panel at a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh.
- European and Arab foreign ministers have met in the Saudi capital to discuss how to join forces on advancing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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European authorities are clamping down on pro-Palestinian protests, rights groups told AFP, as the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza sharply polarises opinion across the bloc.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)
