Ahead of a crucial UN Security Council vote on a US draft resolution calling for a "immediate" ceasefire, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit Israel on Friday in order to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza.
After repeatedly using its veto power to block other resolutions with similar wording, the United States, Israel's principal ally, announced on Friday that it would put a draft on the necessity of an "immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage deal" up for vote in the Security Council.
On Friday, Blinken makes his sixth trip to the region since the war started on October 7 with an attack on Israel by Hamas, following talks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The main target of fighting in Gaza this week has been the Al-Shifa hospital, which is under siege. Israel has also promised to launch a fresh ground offensive in the crowded southern city of Rafah.
Israel announced that its spy chief would return to Qatar on Friday to continue truce negotiations with mediators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar, who are attempting to arrange a six-week break.
The goal of the negotiations is to reach a truce agreement, which is contingent on the release of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel in exchange for the hostages held by Hamas militants and the provision of additional aid to Gaza, where famine is threatening to kill 2.4 million people.
"Gaps are narrowing," Blinken informed reporters in Cairo on Thursday, adding that the US was "continuing to push for an agreement in Doha."
"I think it's still possible, even though it's difficult to get there," he stated. He cautioned that it would be “a mistake” for Israel to launch a ground invasion in Rafah, the southernmost city of Gaza where 1.5 million people are confined by the Egyptian border.
"There's nowhere for the civilians gathered in Rafah to escape danger," Blinken declared.
"There's a better way to address Hamas's persistent threat."
According to a spokesperson for the country's envoy to the UN, the US will present its draft resolution to the Security Council on Friday.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield's spokesman, Nate Evans, stated in a statement that the US resolution "will unequivocally support ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as part of a hostage deal... we will be bringing this Resolution for a vote on Friday morning."
Following their blocking of an Algerian draft resolution at the end of February that demanded a "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, US negotiators are now working on a different draft that emphasizes support for a six-week truce in exchange for the release of hostages.
Despite renewed diplomatic efforts, Israel has persisted in its relentless bombardment of Gaza, resulting in nearly 32,000 deaths, according to the health ministry in the territory controlled by Hamas.
Since the beginning of its operation in and around Al-Shifa hospital on Monday, the Israeli military said it has killed over 140 Hamas fighters and arrested over 350 others.
"We have captured the most terrorists since the beginning of the conflict during this operation," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated on Thursday night.
Israel claimed that no civilians had been hurt and that militants were holed up at the enormous hospital complex. According to Hamas, it was illegal to attack a location where a large number of patients and refugees were gathered.
AFP photos showed crowds of people leaving the hospital and running south along Gaza's shore.
A 60-year-old patient identified only as Younis claimed he was blindfolded, made to go outside without clothes, questioned, and then released.
Younis told AFP that the soldiers "beat all the young men and arrested them."
According to the Israeli military, they were attempting "to identify unusual cases" involving their soldiers.
According to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures, Hamas's unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians. This was the start of the bloodiest-ever Gaza war.
About 250 hostages were also taken by militants. 33 people are thought to be dead and 130 people, according to Israel, are still in Gaza.
According to the health ministry in the territory controlled by Hamas, Israel has killed at least 31,988 people since it declared its intention to destroy Hamas. The majority of these deaths have been women and children.
The majority of Gaza's civilian infrastructure has also crumbled, and UN organizations are alerting the people that famine is imminent in the shattered territory.
According to a UN panel of independent experts, children in Gaza were "starving to death" on Thursday.
The panel in charge of monitoring adherence to the UN convention on the rights of children stated, "They are cut off from food; even crumbs are not easy to find."
David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, was scheduled to visit Doha on Friday to hold additional peace negotiations with Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and CIA chief William Burns.
But according to a Hamas official, Israel's reaction to the organization's most recent proposal had been "largely negative."
Rafah is the last major Palestinian city that has avoided an Israeli ground attack thus far, despite being the destination of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing fighting elsewhere.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has maintained that a ground invasion is the only means of eliminating Hamas, in defiance of Blinken's warnings and the European Union's call for a "immediate humanitarian pause" in Gaza on Thursday.
Additionally, tensions have increased in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian officials claim that since the start of the Gaza conflict, Israeli settlers and troops have killed over 440 Palestinians.
This week, the Saudi government declared that it would give $40 million to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which has been instrumental in providing aid to Gaza.
After Israel accused 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff members of participating in the October 7 attack, many of Israel's allies cut off funding for the organization; however, some have since started contributing again.
