Ahead of visit to Israel, US's Blinken presses Hamas to accept new proposal for Gaza cease-fire

CAIRO (AP) — The United States stepped up pressure Monday for a cease-fire deal in Gaza as the secretary of state said a new proposal had been put to Hamas, whose officials were in Cairo talking to Egyptian mediators. Israeli airstrikes killed 26 people in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, according to hospital records.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, ahead of a visit to Israel this week, urged Hamas to accept the latest proposal, calling it “extraordinarily generous” on Israel's part.

The terms were not made public. But according to an Egyptian official and Israeli media, Israel has softened its position, lowering the number of hostages it demands that Hamas free during the initial six-week phase of the cease-fire in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

One question is whether that will be enough to overcome Hamas concerns over the cease-fire's second phase.

Hamas has demanded assurances that an eventual release of all hostages will bring a complete end to Israel’s nearly seven-month assault in Gaza and a withdrawal of its troops from the devastated territory. Israel has offered only an extended pause, vowing to resume its offensive once it is over. The issue has repeatedly obstructed efforts by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators during months of talks.

Some Israeli commentators depicted Israel as at a crossroads: Go for a deal with a potential end to the war, bringing benefits that could include normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia, or push ahead with plans including an attack on Rafah in the hope of crushing Hamas and risk international isolation.

Israel's closest ally, the United States, and others have repeatedly warned against an offensive on Rafah, saying it would bring a surge in casualties and worsen a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter in Rafah after fleeing fighting elsewhere.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 people.

Overnight and Monday morning, Israeli strikes flattened at least three homes where extended families of Palestinians were gathered. The dead included nine women and six children, one them just five days old, according to hospital records and an Associated Press reporter.

“Everyone was sleeping in their beds," said Mahmoud Abu Taha, whose cousin was killed with his wife and their year-old baby in a house where at least 10 died. “They have nothing to do with anything.”

Egypt has stepped up mediation efforts for a cease-fire deal in hopes of averting an assault on Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt.

An Egyptian official said Israel has lowered the number of hostages it wants freed in the first stage, down from earlier demands for 40. He did not specify the new number. Israeli media said it now seeks the release of 33 hostages in return for the release of some 900 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas is believed to hold around 100 Israelis in Gaza.

Israel has also shown flexibility on allowing residents to return to northern Gaza, the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal talks.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas or Israeli officials.

Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected stopping the war in return for hostage releases and says an offensive on Rafah is crucial to destroying the militants after their Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that triggered the fighting. His government could be threatened if he agrees to a deal, since hardline Cabinet members demand an attack on Rafah.

At the same time, Netanyahu faces pressure to reach a deal from families of hostages.

On Monday, the families of two hostages — Keith Siegel and Omri Miran — urged both sides to reach an agreement, days after Hamas released a video showing the men.

“I appeal to Sinwar, please approve this deal. And to the members of the (Israeli) Cabinet, please approve any deal,” said Omri’s father, Dany Miran, referring to Yehiya Sinwar, the top Hamas official in Gaza. He spoke at a news conference in a Tel Aviv square where supporters of hostage families regularly hold rallies.

Israeli officials, meanwhile, appeared increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants against the country’s leaders.

It was not clear what sparked the concerns. The ICC launched a probe three years ago into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian militants going back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The probe is also looking at Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territory the Palestinians want for a future state.

There was no comment from the court on Monday, and it has given no indication warrants in the case are imminent.

But Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late Sunday that it had informed Israeli missions of “rumors” that warrants might be issued against senior political and military officials. Netanyahu said Friday that Israel “will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense.”

Neither Israel nor the United States accept the ICC’s jurisdiction, but any warrants could put Israeli officials at risk of arrest in other countries. They would also serve as a major rebuke of Israel’s actions at a time when pro-Palestinian protests have spread across U.S. college campuses.

The International Court of Justice, a separate body, is investigating whether Israel has committed acts of genocide in the ongoing war in Gaza, with any ruling expected to take years. Israel has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and accused both international courts of bias.

In the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, militants stormed through army bases and farming communities across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages. Israel's air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza has killed at least 34,488 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.

Israel blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because the militants fight from dense, residential areas. The military says it has killed over 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

Associated Press writers Michael Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington; and Matthew Lee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Relatives and supporters of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group call for their release during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and supporters of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group call for their release during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and supporters of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group call for their release during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and supporters of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group call for their release during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A demonstrator holds up a flare during a protest calling for the release of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People gather next to a sign displayed on the street that reads in Hebrew "Rafah can wait, they cannot", in reference of a possible Israeli offensive on the Rafah, city in southern Gaza Strip, and calling for the release of the Israeli hostages held by the Hamas militant group, during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A demonstrator holds up a flare during a protest calling for the release of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Relatives and supporters of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group call for their release during a protest in Tel Aviv, Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Mourners carry the bodies of members of the Abu Taha family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral at Al-Salam cemetery, east of Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Mourners pray over the bodies of members of the Abu Taha family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral at Al-Salam cemetery, east of Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

Mourners carry the bodies of members of the Abu Taha family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral at Al-Salam cemetery, east of Rafah, Gaza Strip. Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)

The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday for delivering badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel's defense minister said the military would send more troops into Rafah, a city along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, as fighting continued in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped. Around 600,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah since the beginning of last week, the U.N. said. In northern Gaza, Israeli evacuation orders have displaced at least 100,000 people so far.

Some 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes since the start of the war, with many relocating multiple times.

No food has entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for more than a week. Some 1.1 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation, according to the U.N, while a “full-blown famine” is taking place in the north of the territory.

Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last Hamas stronghold, brushing off warnings from the United States and other allies that any major operation there would be catastrophic for civilians.

Seven months of the war have killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to local health officials.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people there, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

— U.S. military says Gaza Strip pier project is completed, aid to soon flow

— The top U.N. court is holding hearings on the Israeli military’s incursion into Rafah

— Interior Dept staffer becomes first Jewish Biden appointee to publicly resign over war

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister says more troops will be sent into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the military says it has destroyed Hamas tunnels and killed dozens of militants.

Israel began what it said was a limited operation in Rafah last week after the United States and other allies pressed it not to launch a full-scale invasion.

But even the limited operation has sparked an exodus of 600,000 Palestinians from the city, according to the United Nations. Before the incursion, more than a million Palestinians who had fled fighting in other areas were sheltering in Rafah.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the area on Wednesday, said “this operation will continue as additional forces will enter.” He said “we are wearing Hamas down,” more than seven months into the war triggered by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack.

Even as Israeli troops have pushed into parts of Rafah, Hamas has regrouped in other areas of Gaza that were heavily bombed earlier in the war, and which the military said it had cleared.

The United States has warned Israel not to launch a wide-scale offensive in Rafah because of the toll it would take on civilians. President Joe Biden has said the U.S. won’t provide offensive weapons for such an operation.

JERUSALEM — The Hezbollah militant group said it fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon into Israel on Thursday, the latest in tit-for-tat combat between the sides that has escalated over the last week.

The group said it fired 60 rockets at three military posts in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in retaliation for earlier Israeli airstrikes.

Israel’s military said it responded to what it said were some 40 rockets launched Thursday by striking Hezbollah military posts.

Hezbollah has increased the amount of rockets it has been firing into Israel in recent days and on Wednesday it reportedly struck its deepest target in Israel since the start of the fighting in October. Israeli media reported that an Israeli air force target was struck by a drone, a report the military declined to comment on.

“Hezbollah has been escalating the situation in the north,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. “They’ve been firing more and more.”

Israel has also been striking deep inside Lebanon.

The fighting began shortly after Israel launched its war against Hamas following the militant group’s attack on southern Israel.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday its forces have killed 100 militants since it launched an invasion into the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah last week.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters Thursday that Israeli forces found militant tunnel shafts underneath and in the vicinity of the Rafah crossing near the border with Egypt. Israeli forces seized the crossing at the start of the operation in Rafah.

“We are continuing to operate in the Rafah crossing,” said Shoshani.

Israel says it is operating in Rafah to destroy remaining Hamas battalions there and to rescue Israeli hostages. Israel’s plans for Rafah have raised international alarm because the city had provided shelter to more than a million Palestinians. While the current operation does not appear to be a full-scale invasion, it has sent 600,000 people fleeing the city since the offensive began last week, according to the United Nations.

An Israeli strike overnight hit a residential home in central Rafah, killing four men, including a 65-year-old man and his 22-year-old son, according to records from Kuwaiti hospital.

Another strike, in the southern city of Khan Younis, killed five children, said Dr. Ammar Ghanem, a visiting doctor from the U.S. stationed at the European Hospital where the bodies were taken. One of the five, a girl, was brought to the hospital with internal bleeding after surviving the initial strike on Thursday, Ghanem said, but she died while getting a CT scan.

Shoshani said forces were also operating in the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya and Zeitoun where fierce fighting continued with militants. The spike in fighting suggests that Hamas is regrouping in areas the Israeli military said it had asserted control over months ago. Rocket fire toward Israel has also increased in recent days.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday that the bodies of 39 Palestinians had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll since the start of the war to 35,272. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between militants and noncombatants killed. Israel says it has killed roughly 12,000 militants, without providing evidence.

BERLIN – German authorities say they have banned a group that showed solidarity with “Palestinian resistance in all forms” and raided properties linked to it.

The interior ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous, said it had banned the Palestine Solidarity Duisburg group on Thursday. It accused the group of spreading antisemitic narratives.

The ministry said police searched four properties in the city of Duisburg linked to the group on Thursday.

The region’s top security official, state Interior Minister Herbert Reul, said the move “sends the right signal” and added in a statement that “in many cases nothing other than hatred for Jews is hidden behind solidarity with Palestine, as in the case of the organization banned today.”

In November, Germany’s federal government implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas and dissolved Samidoun, a group that was behind a celebration in Berlin of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ramallah-based ministry said that the three men, all younger than 30, were killed by Israeli fire overnight in the flashpoint city of Tulkarem, though the circumstances of the shootings were uncertain.

Since Oct. 7, violence has flared in the occupied territory, with stepped-up Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and towns often turning deadly. The shootings pushed the Palestinian death toll in the territory since the beginning of the war in Gaza to just over 500.

Also overnight, Israeli police said they shot and killed a man who attempted to stab an officer in east Jerusalem. Police said the officers opened fire as the man charged at them with a knife, killing him. The officers were not wounded and the identity of the attacker was not immediately clear.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israel uses excessive force to subdue suspected attackers. Israel says its forces face complex and often life-threatening situations that demand a response.

In other violence, the Israeli military said Thursday a noncommissioned officer was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in the West Bank. The army later said it had arrested a suspect in the attack.

Attacks by Palestinians have also been on the rise since the war against Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military finished installing a floating pier for the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Officials said they are poised to begin ferrying badly needed humanitarian aid into the enclave besieged over seven months of intense fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.

The final, overnight construction sets up a complicated delivery process more than two months after President Joe Biden ordered it to help Palestinians facing starvation as food and other supplies fail to make it in.

Israel recently seized the key Rafah border crossing in its push on that southern city on the Egyptian border, complicating those shipments. U.S. troops anchored the pier at 7:40 a.m. local time Thursday. That’s according to the military’s Central Command, which stressed none of its forces entered the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ramallah-based ministry said that the three men, all younger than 30, were killed by Israeli fire overnight in the flashpoint city of Tulkarem, though the circumstances of the shootings were uncertain.

Since Oct. 7, violence has flared in the occupied territory, with stepped-up Israeli raids into Palestinian cities and towns often turning deadly. The shootings pushed the Palestinian death toll in the territory since the beginning of the war in Gaza to just over 500.

Also overnight, Israeli police said they shot and killed a man who attempted to stab an officer in east Jerusalem. Police said the officers opened fire as the man charged at them with a knife, killing him. The officers were not wounded and the identity of the attacker was immediately unclear.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israel uses excessive force in attempting to subdue suspected attackers. Israel says its forces face complex and often life-threatening situations that demand a response.

Attacks by Palestinians have been on the rise since the war against Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Thursday that five soldiers have been killed in northern Gaza, which Israeli media said was the result of a friendly fire incident.

The military released the names of those killed, but did not immediately disclose the circumstances of their deaths.

Israeli Army Radio said a tank fired on a building housing the soldiers, killing five and wounding seven.

There have been multiple friendly-fire incidents throughout the 7-month-long war. At least 27 soldiers have been killed in mistaken fire by Israeli forces, according to military figures.

The incident comes as Israel has reinvaded parts of northern Gaza that it previously said it had asserted control over. Heavy battles have taken place with militants in recent days and rocket fire toward Israel has increased, suggesting Hamas is regrouping in those areas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from Israel’s top ally, the U.S., as well as at home for not moving toward a postwar vision for Gaza that would replace Hamas with different Palestinian governance.

Along with the fighting in northern Gaza, Israeli troops have also pushed into parts of the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah.

BEIRUT -- Israel’s air force conducted airstrikes that targeted mountains in northeast Lebanon close to the border with Syria. There was no word on casualties.

Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said the airstrikes that occurred around midnight Wednesday struck the hills overlooking the town of Brital. It gave no further details.

The area that was attacked is a Hezbollah stronghold and is a vital route that links the group’s positions in eastern Lebanon with Syria’s Qalamoun mountains, where Hezbollah also has military presence.

The Israeli military said there were no injuries from the strike.

The Israeli strikes came hours after Hezbollah said it attacked with explosive drones an Israeli military base near the city of Tiberias, their deepest strike in Israel since the two sides began exchanging fire a day after the Israel-Hamas broke out on Oct. 7.

Palestinians walk through the debris after an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)

Palestinians walk through the debris after an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)

Palestinians walk through the debris after an Israeli air and ground offensive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)