Photo: Collected
Diplomatic efforts increased on Sunday to reach a long sought-after truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Israel carried out further air strikes and shelling on the war-battered territory.
A new video of two hostages being held by Hamas militants since the group's October 7 attack prompted fresh outrage in Israel, where protesters have piled pressure on the government to reach a deal.
Global opposition to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has also been growing, with world leaders and aid groups warning that a looming Israeli invasion of the southernmost city of Rafah would lead to massive civilian causalities.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appealed to the United States on Sunday to stop Israel from invading Rafah, which he said would be "the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people".
The US -- Israel's main ally and weapons supplier -- was the only nation capable of preventing Israel from "committing this crime", Abbas told a global economic summit in Saudi Arabia.
Hamas said on Saturday it was studying a new Israeli counterproposal for truce and hostage release, a day after media reports said an Egyptian delegation was in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate a new truce ever since a one-week halt to the fighting in November saw 80 Israeli hostages exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Hamas has previously insisted on a permanent ceasefire -- a condition that Israel has rejected.
However the Axios news website, citing two Israeli officials, reported that Israel's latest proposal includes a willingness to discuss the "restoration of sustainable calm" in Gaza after hostages are released.
It is the first time in the nearly seven-month war that Israeli leaders have suggested they are open to discussing an end to the war, Axios said.
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