Truce ‘Closer’ As Tel Aviv Eyes Rafah Assault

Talks in Cairo towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal have made “significant progress”, as ­Israel keeps up the pressure, warning that it is ready for future military operations against Hamas.

The army said on Sunday it was preparing for an assault on Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah, the last area so far spared a ground invasion.

Israel pulled its forces out of southern Gaza and the main city there, Khan Younis, allowing large numbers of displaced Palestinians to return to the devastated urban area.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stressed that the aim was for Israeli forces “to prepare for ­future missions, including … in Rafah” on the Egyptian border.

The Israel Defence Forces said it had pulled back units to recuperate and prepare for further operations.

“A significant force led by the 162nd Division and the Nahal Brigade continues to operate in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said, adding that it would “preserve freedom of action and the ability to conduct precise intelligence-based operations”.

According to reports in Israeli media, the Nahal Brigade will be tasked with securing the Netzarim Corridor, which crosses Gaza from southern Israel to the coast.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told American ABC that the partial Israeli withdrawal was thought to be “just about rest and refit for these troops that have been on the ground for four months and not necessarily, that we can tell, indicative of some coming new operation”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking half a year of war since the unprecedented attack of October 7, also said Israel was “one step away from victory”.

As truce talks resumed, Mr Netanyahu also told his cabinet that “Israel is ready for a deal”, adding that “there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages”.

International pressure has mounted on Israel to end the war that has brought mass civilian ­casualties and destroyed swaths of the coastal Palestinian territory.

Israel’s main ally, diplomatic backer and arms supplier, the US, last week demanded a ceasefire and hostage release deal along with ramped-up aid deliveries.

US President Joe Biden sharpened his tone after voicing “outrage” over an Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers from the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen, including Australian Zomi Frankom.

While Israel and militant group Hamas have kept up bellicose rhetoric, they have also sent negotiators to Cairo, joined by mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar.

Egyptian state-linked news outlet al-Qahera reported overnight on Monday “significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement”, citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source.

The outlet said Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo on Monday and were expected to return “within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement”.

US and Israeli delegations were to leave the Egyptian capital “in the next few hours” for consultations over the next two days, it said.

After troops left the largely ­destroyed city of Khan Younis on Sunday, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south.

Maha Thaer, a mother of four returning to Khan Younis, said she would move back into her badly damaged apartment, “even though it is not suitable for living, but it is better than tents”.

Thousands gathered on Sunday in front of Israel’s parliament in Tel Aviv to demand the return of hostages taken in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants that ­resulted in the deaths of about 1200 people, ­according to Israeli figures.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.

“Stay strong, you who are still there,” cried 17-year-old former hostage Agam Goldstein with tears in her eyes.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health min­istry in the Hamas-run territory.

Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, with damage to infrastructure, mostly housing, estimated at $US18.5bn ($28bn), a World Bank report said.

Charities and the UN have ­accused Israel of blocking aid but Israel has defended its efforts and blamed shortages on the aid organisations’ inability to distribute assistance once it gets in.

“The denial of basic needs – food, fuel, sanitation, shelter, ­security and health care – is ­inhumane and intolerable,” World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.

Aid trucks entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Sunday, and medical supplies were brought in via Israel’s Erez crossing in the north.