Israel vows action against Hamas in Rafah amid global calls for restraint

Ibrahim Hasouna, center, the sole survivor among his family, sits amidst the debris of his bombed home in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Picture: AP Photo/Fatima Shbair

Israel will press ahead with an offensive against Hamas in Rafah, the last refuge for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, after allowing civilians to vacate the area, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

The Israeli leader, who is under growing international pressure to hold off on the planned assault, gave no indication as to when the offensive might take place or where the hundreds of thousands of people now crammed into Rafah might go.

His comments came a day after talks in Cairo on a possible ceasefire and the handover of hostages held by Hamas ended inconclusively, stoking fears among the displaced Palestinians that Israel would soon storm Rafah, which abuts Egypt.

"We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action in Rafah as well, after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones," Netanyahu said on his Telegram account

Earlier, Netanyahu's office said Hamas had presented no new offer for a hostage deal in the Cairo talks and that Israel would not accept the militant group's "ludicrous demands".

"A change in Hamas' positions will make it possible to move forward in the negotiations," it said.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Hasouna family house, which was struck by an Israeli airstrike during an operation to rescue two hostages in Rafah

Relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas said they would barricade the Israeli defence headquarters on Wednesday in protest at what they said was a scandalous decision by Israel not to send negotiators to the next session of the Cairo talks

The move "amounts to a death sentence" for the 134 hostages in Hamas' tunnels, the group said, in a sign of growing domestic dissent in Israel after four months of the Gaza war.

The Israeli military says it wants to flush out Islamist militants from hideouts in Rafah and free hostages being held there after the Hamas rampage in Israel on October 7, but has given no details of a proposed plan to evacuate civilians.

"We are now counting down the days before Israel sends in tanks. We hope they don't but who can prevent them?" Said Jaber, a Gaza businessman who is sheltering in Rafah with his family, told Reuters via a chat app.

As night fell on Wednesday, more than 2,000 Palestinians who had been sheltering in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza arrived in Rafah after being ordered to evacuate by the Israeli army, residents and some witnesses said.

At least 28,576 Palestinians have been killed, including 103 in the past 24 hours, and 68,291 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Many other people are believed to be buried under rubble of destroyed buildings across the densely populated Gaza Strip, much of which is in ruins. Supplies of food, water and other essentials are running out and diseases are spreading.

At least 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 were taken hostage in the Hamas raid on southern Israel on, according to Israeli tallies.