Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

A team of mid-level Israeli officials will travel to Cairo in the coming hours to assess whether Hamas can be persuaded to shift on its latest ceasefire draft, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.

The official also reiterated that the current Hamas proposal was unacceptable to Israel.

"This delegation is made up of mid-level envoys. Were there a credible deal in the offing, the principals would be heading the delegation," the official said, referring to the senior Mossad and Shin Bet officials who are leading the Israeli side.

The Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel's demonstrated determination to move against Rafah had pushed Hamas into hastily setting out its latest proposal.

Earlier, Egypt's state-aligned Al-Qahera News TV said Cairo was hosting delegations from Qatar, the US, and Hamas in order to reach a comprehensive truce in Gaza.

Reporting by Reuters.

As the Israeli army announced it had seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, questions have been raised about whether Israel has violated key agreements with Egypt and what level of coordination might have taken place with Cairo.

It is unclear whether any coordination took place prior to Tuesday's occupation of the crossing, which essentially gives Israel control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the 14-km long, 100-metre-wide demilitarised buffer zone along the entire border between Gaza and Egypt. 

An Egyptian military source told Middle East Eye that Egypt has not authorised the Rafah crossing operation.

"There is no operational coordination regarding the occupation of Rafah," the source said on condition of anonymity. "However, officials from the Egyptian and Israeli military maintain constant contact to ensure the strategic security of both sides."

The source added that Cairo views the invasion of Rafah crossing as a "serious escalation but not a surprise".

"This military action jeopardises the entry of aid to one million Palestinians, as the Rafah crossing is the safest and most well-structured route for food and water delivery to Gaza," the source said.

Read more: Did Israel coordinate with Egypt before reoccupying the crossing?

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Israel that an assault on Rafah would "be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare."

Guterres called on Israel to "stop any escalation" after it sent tanks into Rafah.

"I am disturbed and distressed by the renewed military activity in Rafah," Guterres told reporters.

 "The closure of both the Rafah and Karem Shalom crossings is especially damaging to an already dire humanitarian situation. They must be re-opened immediately."

Hamas said an Israeli captive has died of wounds she sustained in an Israeli air strike last month.

The group said in a statement that Judy Weinstein, 70, along with another detainee, had not received treatment due to the destruction of hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas also said that Weinstein was seriously wounded on 7 October and had received treatment in a hospital in Gaza. She was taken back to detention upon her recovery, the statement said.

In December, an Israeli kibbutz said it had learned that Weinstein died on 7 October and her body was taken to Gaza but did not make it clear how Israeli authorities had confirmed her death.

The United States has made its views clear to Israel on a major ground invasion of Rafah, a State Department spokesperson said, in Washington's first response since Israeli forces seized control of Gaza's border crossing with Egypt.

"We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interest of the Israeli and the Palestinian people; it would bring an immediate ceasefire and allow increased humanitarian assistance into Gaza," the spokesperson told Reuters.

An Egyptian and a Western diplomat told the Associated Press that the ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas only had minor changes in wording from an earlier version approved by Israel.

The sources, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, said Hamas was sent the new draft after changes were added in consultation with CIA head William Burns.

The White House said Burns was discussing Hamas's response with Israeli and regional officials.

Students at two universities strongly associated with Lord Arthur Balfour have launched pro-Palestinian encampments on campus to protest Israel’s war on Gaza.

The protests at Edinburgh and Cambridge are part of a growing movement on campuses across the world, which involves students setting up protest camps to demand that their institutions break off ties with Israeli institutions, as well as companies involved in supplying arms to the state.

At Edinburgh, students wearing Palestinian scarves made their demands clear at the start of their protest at the university’s Old College .

In one video taken on Monday and provided to Middle East Eye by activists, a student with a loudspeaker is seen addressing fellow protesters.

“We demand that the University of Edinburgh divest entirely from companies tied to Israel and complicit in the globally acknowledged genocide of the Palestinian people,” the speaker says

READ MORE: British students launch Gaza sit-ins at Balfour’s old universities

Hamas on Monday accepted a US-mediated ceasefire proposal that would see Israel halt its devastating seven-month war on Gaza and the phased release of all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The proposal, seen by Middle East Eye, is made up of three six-week stages that lead to a permanent ceasefire, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the ending of the siege. 

It also includes the release of all Israeli captives held in Gaza in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners to be agreed upon at a later stage. 

READ MORE: Text of the Gaza ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency, called on the US to prevent an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah following Israel's capture of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.

"The Rafah land crossing and the rest of the territory of the Gaza Strip are occupied Palestinian land in accordance with international legal resolutions," he said. "However, [Israel], supported by America with weapons, money and political cover, insists on continuing to defy international law, because the American veto will protect it."

Hamas said in a statement that Israel's incursion in the Rafah border crossing aimed to undermine ceasefire efforts.

The group also accused Israel of aiming to aggravate the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip by cutting off its main aid route.

After capturing the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, Israeli forces released footage and images showing their operations and takeover of the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Egypt's foreign ministry condemned Israel's operations in Gaza's Rafah city as well as its seizure of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.

According to Reuters, the foreign ministry also warned that the Rafah offensive threatens ceasefire efforts.

A UN spokesperson said that Gaza only has a one day buffer of fuel supplies, and that Israel denying fuel into Gaza for a prolonged period would put the aid operation "in its grave".

Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said they fired rockets at a "gathering of enemy forces" east of the Rafah crossing.

The Israeli army said four mortars were fired at Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom), causing sirens to go off, but no damage was reported.

A UN spokesperson said that Israeli authorities refused the organisation's request to get into the Rafah crossing area, Reuters reports.

The spokesperson added that the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently "choked off".