Gaza live: Hamas says it has 'no major issues' with Gaza truce proposals

Israeli air strikes on three houses in Rafah killed 13 people and wounded many others, medical officials said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Hamas media outlets put the death toll at 15 people.

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening.

Here are the day's main developments:

Israeli forces have killed at least 34,454 Palestinians and wounded 77,575 others in Gaza since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. At least 66 Palestinians were killed and 138 others wounded over the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group had "no major issues" with the latest proposal from Israel and Egypt for a Gaza ceasefire.

The US is working to prevent the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the attack on Gaza, Israeli media has reported.

US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Netanyahu and "reiterated his clear position" on a possible invasion of Rafah, the White House said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that only the US could stop an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah.

A Democratic senator on Sunday questioned whether the Biden administration was properly assessing whether Israel was complying with international law, following a Reuters report that some senior US officials did not find that country's assurances credible.

Other developments included:

• A Hamas delegation will head to Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks, an official from the Palestinian group told Reuters.
• The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said that two Palestinian children have reportedly died due to high temperatures in Gaza.
• The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has warned Britain and other countries against deploying forces on the land or coast of the Gaza Strip, saying that foreign troops would be "treated as occupation forces and will be legitimate targets for the resistance".
• France's foreign minister discussed proposals with Lebanese officials on Sunday aimed at easing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.
• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday urged Netanyahu not to back down from a planned ground invasion of Rafah, saying such a move would constitute a humiliating defeat.
• World Central Kitchen said it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, a month after seven workers of the US-based charity were killed in an Israeli air strike.

A Democratic senator on Sunday questioned whether the Biden administration was properly assessing whether Israel was complying with international law, following a Reuters report that some senior US officials did not find that country's assurances credible.

"This reporting casts serious doubt on the integrity of the process in the Biden administration for reviewing whether the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza," Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement.

The Reuters report found that some senior State Department officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find "credible or reliable" Israel's assurances that it is using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he finds Israel's assurances credible. According to an internal State Department memo, several bureaus within the agency did not find Israel's statements credible, citing military actions that raised questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law.

Van Hollen said the Reuters report had found that the recommendations of those bureaus "were swept aside for political convenience".

"The determination regarding compliance with international law is one of fact and law. The facts and law should not be ignored to achieve a pre-determined policy outcome. Our credibility is on the line," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will expand his trip to the Middle East and continue onto Jordan and Israel after visiting Saudi Arabia, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Sunday.

In a statement, Miller said Blinken would focus on the effort to secure a ceasefire in Gaza that will see the release of captives and ensure humanitarian aid into the enclave continued or increased.

Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, jailed 20 years ago in Israel, won a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction on Sunday for his novel A Mask, the Colour of the Sky.

The award of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

The prize was accepted on Khandaqji's behalf by Rana Idriss, owner of Dar al-Adab, the book's Lebanon-based publisher.

Khandaqji was born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus in 1983, and wrote short stories until his arrest in 2004 at the age of 21.

He was convicted and jailed on charges relating to a deadly bombing in Tel Aviv, and completed his university education from inside prison via the internet.

The mask in the novel's title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in a refugee camp in Ramallah, finds in the pocket of an old coat belonging to an Israeli.

Khandaqji's book was chosen from 133 works submitted to the competition.

Nabil Suleiman, who chaired the jury, said the novel "dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism".

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group had "no major issues" with the latest proposal from Israel and Egypt for a Gaza ceasefire.

"The atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles. There are no major issues in the observations and inquiries submitted by Hamas regarding the contents" of the proposal, said a Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  

A Hamas delegation led by the movement's senior leader, Khalil al-Hayya, would deliver the group's response to the truce proposal during a meeting with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Monday, the official said. 

US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and "reiterated his clear position" on a possible invasion of the Gaza border city of Rafah, the White House said.

A statement issued by the White House did not give more details of that part of the conversation. Washington has said that it could not support a Rafah operation without an appropriate and credible humanitarian plan.

Speaking earlier, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Israel had agreed to listen to US concerns and thoughts before it launches an invasion.

The two leaders last spoke on 13 April, after Iran launched missile and drone strikes against Israel.

"The president reaffirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel's security," the statement said.

The two leaders reviewed talks designed to secure the release of some of the captives held since the Hamas-led 7 October attack coupled with an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They also discussed an increased pace of aid deliveries, including preparations to open new crossings into Gaza.

"The president stressed the need for this progress to be sustained and enhanced in full coordination with humanitarian organisations," the statement said.

The amount of humanitarian aid going into the Gaza Strip will be ramped up in the coming days, Israel's military said on Sunday.

"Over the last few weeks, the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza has significantly increased. In the coming days, the amount of aid going into Gaza will continue to scale up even more," spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

"Food, water, medical supplies, shelter equipment and other aid - more of it is going into Gaza than ever before," Hagari said.

US President Joe Biden plans to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, a US official said.

News of the planned conversation was first reported by Axios.

World Central Kitchen (WCK) said it would resume operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, a month after seven workers of the US-based charity were killed in an Israeli air strike.

Prior to halting operations, WCK had distributed more than 43m meals in Gaza since October, representing by its own accounts 62 percent of all international NGO aid.

The charity said it had 276 trucks with the equivalent of almost 8m meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing and would also send trucks into Gaza from Jordan.

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire," said the charity's chief executive officer, Erin Gore. "We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible."

The 1 April deaths triggered widespread condemnation and demands from Israel's allies, including the US, for an explanation.

Israel said its inquiries had found serious errors and breaches of procedure by its military, dismissing two senior officers and reprimanding senior commanders.

The US is working to prevent the issuance of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the attack on Gaza, Israeli media has reported.

According to the news site Walla, Netanyahu is leading a "non-stop push over the telephone" to prevent an arrest warrant being issued against him by the ICC, particularly communicating with the White House.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv has reported that Netanyahu is "frightened and unusually stressed" by the possibility of an imminent arrest warrant.

Sources close to the paper believe that the arrest warrants are only a matter of time.

The paper reported that Defence Minister Yoav Galant and Chief of Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi could also be served with warrants.

Read more: US reportedly working to prevent ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has said that two Palestinian children have reportedly died due to high temperatures in Gaza. 

"We received reports that at least two children died due to the heat," said Philippe Lazzarini, Unrwa commissioner-general. "What more to endure: death, hunger, disease, displacement, now living in greenhouses-like structures under scorching heat." 

Unrwa said that Palestinians had less than 1 litre per person per day for drinking, washing and bathing, well under the international minimum standards of 15 litres. 

The temperature in Gaza has hit 40C on two days this week, reaching 42C on 25 April, according to the AccuWeather web site. The record high average for Gaza's usual hottest month, May, is 40C, according to the Weather and Climate site.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to back down from a planned ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Smotrich said that agreeing to an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire would constitute a humiliating defeat.

On Saturday, Israel's foreign minister said the operation in Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in tents and makeshift homes, could be suspended should a deal emerge to release Israeli captives in Gaza.

Smotrich said in a video statement addressed to Netanyahu that without eradicating Hamas "a government headed by you will have no right to exist".

France's foreign minister is discussing proposals with Lebanese officials on Sunday aimed at easing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded strikes across the border since 7 October, which have increased since Iran launched missiles on Israel in response to the Israeli killing of seven of its military officers and commanders in Damascus.

"If I look at the situation today if there were not a war in Gaza, we could be talking about a war in southern Lebanon given the number of strikes and the impact on the area,"  Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said. "I will pass messages and make proposals to the authorities here to stabilise this zone and avoid a war."

The UN peacemaking mission known as Unifil is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor activity along the demarcation line with Israel. France has 700 troops serving in Unifil's 10,000-strong mission.

Hezbollah has said it would not enter concrete discussions until there was a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel wants to restore calm in its northern areas so displaced Israelis can return to the area.

Earlier this year, Sejourne proposed that Hezbollah would pull back 10km from the Israeli border, while Israel would halt its attacks on southern Lebanon.

Lebanese media reported the government had provided feedback to Paris on the proposal, but French officials said the responses lacked consensus amongst Lebanese actors.