Hamas weighs Gaza truce as deadly fighting nears fifth month

Battles raged in Gaza's south on Sunday ahead of another visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a bid to secure a new truce as the Israel-Hamas war approaches its fifth month.

Blinken set off Sunday on what is his fifth Mideast trip since the October 7 attack by Hamas that set off the crisis.

He is expected to begin his trip on Monday in Saudi Arabia before visits to Israel, Egypt and Qatar.

Gazans have faced dire humanitarian conditions, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on social media platform X that "there is very limited access to clean water and sanitation amid relentless bombardment".

Experts and rights groups told AFP that Israeli forces have destroyed buildings near the border in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the Palestinian territory.

Israel has not publicly confirmed the plan, which Nadia Hardman, an expert on refugees at Human Rights Watch, said "may amount to a war crime".

"We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable," she said.

Sejourne told his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that he understood Cairo's concerns over "forced displacement" of Palestinians into Egypt from the Gaza Strip.

Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on Rafah as part of its campaign to eliminate Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference. File photo

Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 27,365 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

An AFP journalist reported strikes and tank fire on Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city, with some air raids also hitting nearby Rafah.

Israel's army said its forces had raided a Hamas training facility in Khan Yunis where fighters prepared for the October 7 attack.

The Al-Qadisiya compound contained models of Israeli military bases, armoured vehicles, as well as entry points to kibbutzim, the army said in a statement.

During the raid, the army "neutralised" several Hamas fighters, it said.

Israeli military offensive attacks kill at least 27,365 people in Gaza mostly women and children.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that at the nearby Al-Amal hospital there were "alarming signs (of) a humanitarian disaster... after 14 days of continuous siege".

A top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said Saturday the group needed more time to "announce our position" on the truce deal.

Hamdan added that Hamas wanted "to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer".

A Hamas source has said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause that would see more aid delivered into Gaza and the phased release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Agence Frnace-Presse