Israel prepares to attack Rafah as truce talks resume in Egypt

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel's military was preparing to launch an attack on Rafah, as truce negotiations resumed in Egypt.

Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, has become a refuge for over 1 million displaced Palestinians seeking shelter from bombardments. United Nations experts and several countries have warned that any ground operation in the city would lead to catastrophic consequences for civilians.

In a press conference, Netanyahu said that following his approval of the military's plan for a ground attack in Rafah earlier in March, the army is now preparing to evacuate the population before attacking the city.

"It will take time, but it will be done," he said. "We will get into Rafah and kill Hamas battalions there. There is no victory without entering Rafah and eliminating Hamas battalions there."

In northern Gaza, where the UN said famine was imminent, Israeli forces continued the raid on the Al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave's largest medical center before the conflict. According to Netanyahu, at least 200 militants have been killed in the medical complex. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, dozens of people were killed at the hospital, where about 3,000 patients and refugees were seeking shelter.

On Sunday afternoon, an Israeli delegation of security officials departed for a new round of talks with negotiators in Cairo.

Mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the negotiations demanding a six-week suspension of Israel's offensive in exchange for the release of 40 of the 130 hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza after the October 7 attack, Reuters reports.

Fighting rages across Gaza 

Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out heavy strikes in the Palestinian enclave. In an address on Sunday, Netanyahu vowed to maintain military pressure on Hamas while showing flexibility in the talks, stating that only such a combination would bring about the release of hostages.

At least four Palestinians were killed and 17 others were wounded on Sunday in an Israeli bombing on tents inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza, Xinhua reported, citing Palestinian eyewitnesses and sources.

A drone fired at least one missile at tents housing displaced persons and journalists in the courtyard of the hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, according to witnesses.

The Israeli military claimed killing a senior Islamic Jihad militant in the hospital attack, but did not mention his name or rank. 

The Israel Defense Forces said on its official X account that the hospital building was not damaged and its function was not affected.

Palestinian medical sources said the attack killed four people and injured 17 others with varying injuries, including two journalists. 

Meanwhile, the Hamas-run media office in Gaza said in a statement that the Israeli army waged another "massacre" by bombing at the peak hours of movement among the wounded and the displaced in the hospital.

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Sunday that the death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 32,782.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 77 Palestinians and wounded 108 others, the ministry added in a press statement.

Conflicts continue to spread

A Hezbollah member was killed on Sunday in an Israeli raid that targeted his car in the center of Kunin, a municipality located in southern Lebanon, Xinhua reported, citing Lebanese military sources.

The military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a drone fired two air-to-surface missiles at the car, causing it to burn and resulting in the death of its driver, Ismail Ali Al-Zein.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the incident.

The military sources said that Israel carried out 15 air strikes on eight towns and villages in the border area in southern Lebanon, destroying 12 homes and damaging about 45 others, and fired artillery toward nine towns and villages.

In Syria, two civilians were injured in an Israeli attack targeting several military points in the vicinity of its capital Damascus on Sunday night, according to the Syrian Defense Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry stated that Israel launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, wounding two civilians and causing material losses.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israel targeted the scientific research sites in the Jamraya area in the western countryside of Damascus with four rockets, causing fires. 

(With input from agencies)