Israeli forces massed tanks close to built-up areas of Rafah on Thursday, Hamas militants and residents said, after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launched a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.
As ceasefire talks continued in Cairo, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters struck Israeli forces on the eastern outskirts of Rafah, firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli positions.
Residents in the east of Rafah, the only major urban area in Gaza not yet invaded by Israeli ground forces, reported the sound of explosions in battles between Palestinian fighters and approaching Israeli troops.
CIA Director William Burns had returned from Jerusalem to the Egyptian capital and resumed meetings on Thursday with mediators trying to secure a ceasefire, two Egyptian security sources said.
In his starkest comments yet, Biden raised the pressure on Israel to hold back from an all-out assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat elsewhere in Gaza.
Israeli tanks seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route and forcing 80,000 people to flee the city this week, according to the United Nations. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.
Ceasefire talks
In Cairo, delegations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have been meeting since Tuesday.
Citing a source familiar with the matter, Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera TV said early on Thursday that areas of disagreement were being resolved and there were signs a deal would be reached, without giving details.
But Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas' political office in Qatar, said in a statement late on Wednesday the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday.
That would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.
"Israel isn't serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing," said Reshiq.
The CIA's Burns has shuttled between Cairo and Jerusalem, meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.
Earlier this week Israel declared that the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the Hamas statement.
The U.S. said on Tuesday the latest Hamas proposal could overcome an impasse in negotiations. Just a few hours before Hamas' latest statement, Washington continued to say the two sides were not far apart.
"We believe there is a pathway to a deal ... The two sides are close enough they should do what they can to get to a deal," U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252, of whom 128 remain hostage in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.
Israel's assault on Gaza has killed 34,904 Palestinians, most of them civilians, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
Israeli forces mass on Rafah as US warns of arms halt
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