US President Joseph Biden explained today that "Israel will always have the right to defend itself against threats to its security and to bring those responsible for October 7 to justice," Israeli media reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel had authorized negotiators to present a Gaza ceasefire deal after US President Joseph Biden revealed details of a three-phase ceasefire plan he said was proposed by Israel, Reuters reports.
"The Israeli government is united in its desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal," the statement said.
"Therefore, the prime minister authorized the negotiating team to present a blueprint for achieving this goal, while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are met, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas' military and government capabilities."
US President Joseph Biden has called on Hamas militants to accept Israel's new offer to release hostages in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it was the best way to begin ending the deadly conflict.
The Israeli army confirmed today that its forces are operating in the central parts of Rafah and that they are expanding the offensive in that city in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a ground attack on Rafah on May 6 and prompted the displacement of about a million people from there, hampering UN humanitarian operations in the area.
The President of the USA, Joseph Biden, however, said that Israel had not crossed the red lines and that the full invasion that he had warned against had not been launched.
Today's Israeli military announcement indicates that military forces are operating in most of the city.
In the first weeks, the Israeli attack was focused on the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and areas near the border with Egypt.
Israeli soldiers took control of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on the first day of the offensive.
Since then, they have also taken control of the Philadelphia Corridor, a road along the Gaza-Egypt border, on the Palestinian side.
At the beginning of this week, Israeli soldiers also entered the western neighborhood of Rafah Tel al Sultan, and eyewitnesses said that there was fierce fighting with Hamas.
In today's announcement, it is written that soldiers found launchers for rockets and tunnels in central Rafah, and destroyed a weapons warehouse.
It is not specified where in central Rafah the operations are being carried out, but earlier announcements and eyewitness statements mention raids in the Shabura refugee camp and other places near the city center.
Israel claims that the offensive in Rafah is key to rooting out Hamas fighters in the Israeli military campaign aimed at destroying that organization, which began after the October 7 attack by Palestinian extremists on southern Israel.
Palestinians who fled Rafah have taken shelter near southern and central Gaza, and most of them live in tents.
Shaina Lou, a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian group working in the area, said most had taken shelter west of the city by the coast in an area that was the target of deadly Israeli strikes and shelling last Sunday.
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After yesterday's heated meeting on Thursday with Israel's National Security Adviser, Chahi Hanegbi, the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip accused the Government of Israel of victimizing those detainees.
He reportedly said Israel would not end the war in Gaza in exchange for an agreement for Palestinian extremists, led by Hamas, to release all those abducted in an attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year that they still hold in the Gaza Strip.
"The Israeli government has decided to deliberately and knowingly sacrifice hostages, abandoning the fundamental moral principle that Israel never leaves anyone behind," the hostage families' forum said.
The announcement adds that Israel wants to continue the fight more than to achieve the goal of freeing the hostages, who they believe have been abandoned by the government.
Hamas said Thursday it was ready for a full deal with Israel, including the release of all hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, but would only do so if Israel "stops its war and aggression against the people of Gaza."
121 of the more than 250 hostages abducted are believed to be still in Gaza, including 39 that the Israeli military says have been killed.
"This government will not make a decision to stop the war for the return of all the hostages. We must continue the fight so that there will not be another October 7, 2027," said Hanegbi, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Today, Gil Dikman, a relative of kidnapped Carmel Gat, told Israel Military Radio that Hanegbi also told the families of the hostages that the government would agree to a deal that would return the hostages "only if the polls showed it would pay off politically."
Communication between the families of the hostages and the Netanyahu administration is increasingly difficult and there are constant protests, because the release of the hostages is not its priority.
Some relatives of the detainees have joined forces with groups of activists protesting against the Government.
The two sides exchange accusations of politicizing the issue.
"The detainees and the entire state of Israel are hostages of those whose political interests are above their national duties," said the forum of families of the hostages.
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On June 11, Jordan will host an urgent international conference to work on the humanitarian response to Israel's war in Gaza, as reported by Reuters, in coordination with Egypt and the United Nations, the Jordanian Royal Court announced.
At least 36.284 Palestinians have been killed and 82.057 wounded in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Reuters reports.
Israel will not agree to any cessation of fighting in Gaza that is not part of an agreement that includes the return of hostages, a senior Israeli security official said, according to Reuters.
The comments followed a statement by Hamas in which it said it would be willing to reach a deal including a hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as long as Israel halts fighting in Gaza.
"There will be no ceasefire, or any cessation of fighting in Gaza, which is not part of the hostage release agreement," the official said in comments emailed to Reuters. "Any ceasefire would occur solely within the framework of the agreement."
He says Hamas is delusional if it thinks it can dictate terms or force a truce from Israel, and that without going back on this offer, Israel will continue its high-intensity war in Gaza and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure.
He added that there is a proper proposal that includes arrangements for a truce.
Israel's military said troops had ended operations in eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, destroying 10 kilometers of tunnels and several weapons production sites in days of fighting that included more than 200 airstrikes.
During the operation in a heavily populated area, troops also located the bodies of seven hostages, according to Reuters.
The Israeli army this morning targeted the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, after announcing earlier this week that it controls the strategic zone between the Palestinian territory and Egypt.
Palestinian eyewitnesses said that there was an attack near Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, a city that has been at the epicenter of the war between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks, reported Agence France-Presse.
There were also attacks in the area of Nuseirat, in the central part of the Palestinian territory.
The agency states that yesterday there were attacks in the vicinity of Gaza City, as well as that Israeli forces targeted the Jabaliya camp, also in the north of the Gaza Strip.
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