Negotiations Collapse, Civilian Casualties Mount, International Community Condemns Escalation

Israeli Forces Bombard Rafah, Negotiations End

Israeli forces bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, May 9, according to Palestinian residents. This comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed US President Joe Biden's threat to withhold weapons from Israel if it assaults the southern Gaza city.

Late Thursday, a senior Israeli official announced the end of indirect negotiations in Cairo aimed at halting hostilities in Gaza. Israel will proceed with its operation in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip as planned.

Israel has submitted reservations about a Hamas proposal for a hostage release deal to mediators, the official said.

"If we must, we shall fight with our fingernails," Netanyahu said in a video statement. "But we have much more than our fingernails."

Fighting Continues in Gaza

In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad responded by firing anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of Rafah.

Residents and medics in Rafah, the biggest urban area in Gaza not yet overrun by Israeli ground forces, reported an Israeli attack near a mosque that killed at least three people and wounded others in the eastern Brazil neighbourhood. Video footage showed the minaret lying in the rubble and two bodies wrapped in blankets.

An Israeli air strike on two houses in the Sabra neighbourhood of Rafah killed at least 12 people, including women and children. Among the dead were a senior commander of the militant Al-Mujahedeen Brigades and his family, and the family of another group leader, according to medics, relatives, and the group.

Israel claims Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where the population has swelled with hundreds of thousands of Gazans seeking refuge from the bombardments that have devastated most of the coastal enclave.

US Opposes Rafah Operation

The White House reiterated its hope that Israel would not launch a full operation in Rafah, stating that it would not advance Israel's aim of defeating Hamas.

"Smashing into Rafah, in [President Biden's] view, will not advance that objective," spokesperson John Kirby said.

Kirby added that Hamas had been pressured significantly by Israel and that there were better options to hunt down the group's leadership than an operation with significant risk to civilians.