GAZA STRIP
\nIsrael and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported \u201csignificant progress\u201d.
\nAs the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including from its top ally and arms supplier the United States.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Sunday \u2014 half a year after the October 7 attack \u2014 that Israel is \u201cone step away from victory\u201d and has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza\u2019s far-southern Rafah city.
\nOn the same day, however, the army also announced it had pulled its forces out of southern Gaza, although military commanders stressed the withdrawal was tactical and did not signal an end to the war.
\nRafah operations
\nIsraeli leaders were preparing on Monday for military operations in Gaza\u2019s southern city of Rafah, where most of the Palestinian territory\u2019s population has fled after six months of fighting.
\nDefence Minister Yoav Gallant said the troops would \u201cprepare for future missions, including \u2026 in Rafah\u201d on the Egyptian border where almost 1.5 million Gazans live in crowded shelters and tents.
\nIsraeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t read too much into the fact that we\u2019ve moved soldiers in or out of anywhere. I\u2019ll remind everyone that we\u2019re living in a tiny country, we can move soldiers in or out very easily and very quickly.\u201d
\nThe United States said it still opposed a major Israeli assault on Rafah, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date for the attack was set. \u201cWe have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel\u2019s security,\u201d State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu\u2019s remarks.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just a question of Israel presenting a plan to us. We have made clear to them that we think that there is a better way to achieve what is a legitimate goal, which is to degrade and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that still remain in Rafah,\u201d Miller said.
\nWitnesses said that more Israeli air strikes and artillery fire hit central Gaza, including near Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah, as well as in Rafah in the south.
\nAmid the threats and ongoing fighting, Netanyahu has sent negotiators to fresh truce talks that started in Cairo on Sunday, joined by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
\nUS President Joe Biden sent CIA chief Bill Burns to the talks, three days after a terse phone call with Netanyahu in which Biden demanded a halt to the fighting and greater steps to help and protect Gaza civilians.
\nEgypt\u2019s state-linked news outlet Al-Qahera reported \u201csignificant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement\u201d, citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source.
\nThe Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return \u201cwithin two days to finalise the terms of the agreement\u201d, it said, while the US and Israeli teams were also planning 48 hours of consultations.
\nHowever, Israel\u2019s Ynet news outlet cited an unidentified Israeli official as tempering the upbeat Egyptian report and stressing that \u201cwe still don\u2019t see a deal on the horizon\u201d.
\n\u201cThe distance is still great and there has been nothing dramatic in the meantime,\u201d the Israeli official was quoted as saying by the Hebrew-language website.
\nA separate senior Israeli official was quoted by Ynet as saying that \u201cpatience is needed. There is potential, but we are not there yet.\u201d
\nA Hamas official said on Monday no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo. \u201cThere is no change in the position of the occupation and, therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,\u201d the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. \u201cThere is no progress yet.\u201d
\nAnother senior Hamas official told AFP that \u201cwe cannot speak of concrete progress so far\u201d, with disagreement centred on the pace of displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza City.
\nNetanyahu also faced pushback from one of the far-right allies he needs to maintain a parliamentary majority and stay in power, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
\nBen Gvir warned on X, formerly Twitter, that \u201cif the prime minister decides to end the war without an extensive attack on Rafah in order to defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAZA STRIP Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported \u201csignificant progress\u201d. As the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n