Hamas weighs ceasefire proposal
\nUS President Joe Biden issues executive order against Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank
\nGAZA
\nIsrael prepared to advance its war on Gaza farther south, close to the Egyptian border, after claiming to have dismantled Hamas in Khan Younis, as diplomatic efforts in pursuit of a ceasefire accelerated.
\nHealth officials in the besieged enclave said on Thursday the confirmed Palestinian death toll had risen above 27,000, with thousands more dead still lying under the rubble.
\nDefence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that success in the fight against the Palestinian fighters in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where Israel launched a major ground attack last week, meant its forces could advance to Rafah on the enclave\u2019s southern border.
\nMore than half of Gaza\u2019s 2.3 million people are sheltering in this area, mainly cold and hungry in makeshift tents and public buildings.
\n\u201cWe are achieving our missions in Khan Younis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate terror elements that threaten us,\u201d Gallant claimed in a statement.
\nAt the same time, Qatari and Egyptian mediators hoped for a positive response from Hamas to the first concrete proposal for an extended halt to fighting, agreed with Israel and the US at talks in Paris last week.
\nA Palestinian official close to the negotiations told Reuters the text envisages a first phase of 40 days, during which fighting would cease while Hamas freed remaining civilians among the more than 100 captives it still holds. Further phases would see the handover of Israeli soldiers and bodies of dead captives.
\nNo response from Hamas yet to proposal
\nA Palestinian official said Hamas was unlikely to reject the proposal outright, but would demand guarantees that fighting would not resume, something Israel has not agreed to.
\nThere was brief elation in Gaza on Thursday after remarks by a Qatari spokesman at Johns Hopkins University in Washington sparked ceasefire hopes – and a drop in the price of crude oil.
\nBut Qatari officials in the capital Doha and Taher Al-Nono, media adviser to Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, said the group had not responded yet.
\nGaza residents said Israeli forces pounded areas around hospitals in Khan Younis, and stepped up attacks close to Rafah. Combat has also surged in recent days in northern areas around Gaza City that Israel claimed to have subdued weeks ago.
\nOsama Ahmed, 49, a father of five from Gaza City now sheltering in western Khan Younis, said there had been fierce resistance in the city, and relentless bombardment from air, ground and sea as Israeli tanks advanced.
\n\u201cAll we want is a ceasefire now,\u201d he told Reuters by phone.
\nAn air strike on a house in Khan Younis wounded 13 people on Thursday, according to hospital officials.
\nAppeals to Israel from its main ally, the United States, show little sign of having succeeded in easing the plight of Gaza\u2019s civilians.
\nWashington is stepping up indirect pressure, however.
\nUS President Joe Biden issued an executive order that aims to punish Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in an surge of violence triggered by the war in Gaza.
\nBiden is also under pressure to respond to the killing of three US soldiers by a drone in Jordan last week, the first US deaths in an escalation of violence across the Middle East since Israel\u2019s invasion of Gaza began in October.
\nThe United States, which has said it does not want to ignite a wider war, believes the drone, which also wounded more than 40 people, was made by Iran, four US officials told Reuters.
\nCBS News reported on Thursday that targets for US strikes in Iraq and Syria in response to the killings include \u201cIranian personnel and facilities\u201d, citing American officials.
\nThe US is continuing its strikes with allies against the Houthi movement in Yemen, which has attacked shipping in the Red Sea in what it says is solidarity with Gaza.
\nThe US military said it had hit up to 10 drones in Yemen being prepared for launch, while a U.S. Navy ship downed three Iranian-made drones and a Houthi anti-ship missile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hamas weighs ceasefire proposal US President Joe Biden issues executive order against Jewish settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank GAZA Israel prepared to advance its war on Gaza farther south, close to the Egyptian border, after claiming to have dismantled Hamas in Khan Younis, as diplomatic efforts in pursuit of a ceasefire accelerated. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-384900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n