Gaza truce efforts intensify amid relentless Israeli attacks

A further 54 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces between Wednesday and Friday afternoon in the Gaza Strip and more than 100 were injured, according to the latest UN flash assessment, which reports aid officials warning of catastrophe should Israel invade Rafah.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also reports that Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, is facing continued restrictions from Israel on bringing much-needed medical equipment into Gaza.

“From ultrasound scanners to external defibrillators, generators, and intravenous sodium chloride solutions that are essential for rehydrating patients and diluting drugs. According to MSF, such requests have been repeatedly rejected by Israeli authorities,” OCHA reports.

Between April 27 and Thursday, just eight out of 23 humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza were facilitated by Israeli authorities, 12 (52 percent) were impeded, two missions were denied, and one mission was cancelled, according to the UN.

Hamas said its delegation was heading to Cairo to resume Gaza truce talks, as the United Nations warned that Israel’s threatened assault on the city of Rafah could produce a “bloodbath”.

Foreign mediators have been waiting for the Palestinian militant group to respond to a proposal to halt fighting for 40 days and exchange hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

“The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

Blinken on Friday also reiterated Washington’s objections to the long-threatened Rafah offensive, saying Israel has not presented a plan to protect the civilians sheltering there.

“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas was the only holdup to a Gaza ceasefire as the militants prepared to send a delegation back to Cairo on Saturday for talks

“We wait to see whether, in effect, they can take yes for an answer on the ceasefire and release of hostages,” Blinken said late Friday at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona.