Gaza Strip
\nIsrael and Hamas officials denied the reports that a ceasefire had been implemented in southern Gaza to allow foreigners out of the besieged Palestinian enclave and aid to be brought in amid a deepening crisis.
\nSecurity sources in Egypt said a deal had been reached to open the Rafah border crossing to allow aid into the enclave from 0600 GMT.
\nHamas official Izzat El Reshiq told Reuters that there was no truth to reports about the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt or a temporary ceasefire.
\nMore than 2,700 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have lost their lives during Israel-Hamas war.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said in a statement: \u201cThere is currently no truce and humanitarian aid in Gaza in exchange for getting foreigners out.\u201d
\nIn an address to Knesset, Netanyahu urged the world countries to stand against Hamas.
\nMeanwhile, Russia reiterated its appeal for an \u201cimmediate ceasefire\u201d in the Israel-Gaza conflict on Monday and urged officials to begin talks to resolve violence.
\nThe situation at the Rafah crossing remained unclear.
\nThe bombardment of Hamas-ruled Gaza continued overnight, with residents saying it was the heaviest pounding yet in nine days of conflict.
\nAs a humanitarian crisis gripped Gaza, two Egyptian security sources said Israel had agreed to halt its bombardment of southern Gaza. The Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing was expected to reopen to allow foreign passport holders to leave, they said.
\nDiplomatic efforts have been intensifying to get aid into the enclave, which has been under complete blockade following the Hamas attack on Israel.
\n\u2018Urgent need for ceasefire\u2019
\nMeanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office has raised alarm over humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave, calling for \u201curgent need\u201d to halt hostilities to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
\n\u201cThere have been very mammoth diplomatic efforts to try to make this happen. The secretary-general is constantly liaising with all the parties that are involved, and many other member states are also exercising what leverage they can. We need the security for the aid deliveries to be able to happen,\u201d UNHRO spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told CNN on Monday.
\n\u201cWe have seen hospitals that have been forced to evacuate. Doctors insisting that they will stay with patients who are in the ICU wards and the neonatal units, where you had the impossible choice of whether to abandon your patients or to stay with them and risk death.
\nThe access to water, access to food, the forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people into southern Gaza has created a very, very difficult humanitarian situation in southern Gaza as well,\u201d Shamdasani said.
\nShe said there is a significant amount of aid waiting at the border to get in.
\n\u2018Biden warns against Gaza occupation\u2019
\nAs Israel is preparing for the Gaza invasion, US President Joe Biden has warned Israel against the occupation of the Palestinian territory, saying the ground assault would be \u201ca big mistake\u201d.
\nMassing thousands of troops and heavy weaponry in the desert south of the country, the Israeli military has said it is awaiting the \u201cpolitical\u201d green light to go into northern Gaza.
\nIn a video clip posted by CBS News\u2019s 60 Minutes on Monday, Biden backed a humanitarian corridor to let people flee the war-hit area as well as allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, including food and water, into Gaza.
\n\u201cI am confident that Israel is going to act under the rules of war,\u201d Biden said.
\nThe US president said that he did not believe Hamas represented \u201call the Palestinian people\u201d and that he wanted to see the group totally eliminated.
\nBiden said he did not think American troops would be necessary on the ground as Israel has one of the \u201cfinest fighting forces,\u201d even as American warships headed to the area amid growing clashes on Israel\u2019s northern border with Lebanon.
\nOver 1 million people flee Gaza
\nMore than one million people have fled their homes in Gaza in scenes of chaos and despair as Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and continued amassing troops Monday in preparation for a full-blown ground invasion.
\nIsrael declared war on the group a day after waves of its fighters broke through the heavily fortified border on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
\nIsrael then unleashed a relentless bombing campaign on Gaza that has flattened neighbourhoods and left at least 2,750 people dead in the territory, mainly civilians.
\nAnother 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under rubble.
\nPalestinians carrying whatever belongings they can, in bags and suitcases, or packed onto three-wheeled motorbikes, battered cars, vans and even donkey carts have become a common sight.
\nFleeing the bombardment and following an Israeli order to move to the south of the Gaza Strip, people have had to find shelter wherever they can, including on the streets and in UN-run schools.
\n\u201cNo electricity, no water, no internet. I feel like I\u00b4m losing my humanity,\u201d said Mona Abdel Hamid, 55, who fled Gaza City to Rafah in the south of the enclave, and is having to stay with strangers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gaza Strip Israel and Hamas officials denied the reports that a ceasefire had been implemented in southern Gaza to allow foreigners out of the besieged Palestinian enclave and aid to be brought in amid a deepening crisis. Security sources in Egypt said a deal had been reached to open the Rafah border crossing to allow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-362077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n