At the same time, Sullivan urged Hamas to accept the U.S.-backed proposal that was “on the table.” Hamas “should take it and not try to push this thing in a direction where we just get to stalemate,” he said, calling on the international community to pressure Hamas to accept the deal on offer.
Hamas had provided Egyptian and Qatari officials with its response to the U.S.-backed deal, framing it as “positive.” In a statement Thursday, the militant group said it was negotiating in good faith and urged the Israeli government to publicly signal its support for the deal.
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While President Biden has characterized it as an “Israeli” proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently distanced himself from it under pressure from his right flank.
Earlier this week, the U.N. Security Council approved Biden’s plan for a cease-fire deal, marking a rare diplomatic victory on Gaza for the United States at the U.N. organ.
Palestinian media reported Thursday that Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment struck the Mawasi area on the southern Gaza coastline overnight. Residents described it to Reuters as one of the worst nights so far in the war, forcing families to flee their homes and tents in darkness.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that it deployed drones, airstrikes and engaged in “close-quarters” combat in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, conducting what it described as “intelligence-based, targeted operations.” According to the statement, Israeli troops located weapons, struck a rocket launch site and killed an unspecified number of militants in the area. Throughout the Strip, the Israeli military said its air force hit over 45 targets in total on Wednesday.
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The Houthis in Yemen struck a Greek-owned cargo ship, causing severe flooding and damage to the engine room, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. The Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, the MV Tutor, most recently docked in Russia. U.S. forces also destroyed three cruise missile launchers and a drone launched from an area of Yemen controlled by Houthi militants, who have been attacking vessels passing through the Red Sea for months.
Hezbollah, the Hamas-allied militant group in Lebanon, sent about 215 projectiles toward northern Israel on Wednesday, the IDF said, in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon that killed a senior Hezbollah commander the previous day. Wednesday’s waves of rockets and artillery shells started fires but Israel has not reported any casualties.
More than 330,000 tons of waste have piled up alongside populated areas of the Gaza Strip, according to UNRWA. The U.N. agency said that the trash is posing “catastrophic” environmental and health risks, as children rummage through it daily.
A U.N. inquiry said Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The report, which the U.N. human rights office said was the first in-depth U.N. investigation of events on and since Hamas’s attack Oct. 7, also found that Palestinian armed groups carried out war crimes in Israel.
At least 37,202 people have been killed and 84,932 injured in Gaza since the war started, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 298 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operations in Gaza.
Tyler Pager contributed to this report.
