🔴 Live: Israeli official says Cairo talks over, Rafah operation to proceed as planned

Israeli battle tanks and other military vehicles are positioned in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. © Ahmad Gharabli, AFP

Israel has expressed its reservations about a Hamas proposal for a hostage-release deal and withdrawn its delegation from talks in Cairo, an Israeli official said Thursday, adding that military operations in Rafah will proceed as planned. US President Joe Biden has vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launch a major invasion of the southern Gaza city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war. 

Summary:

• Heavy shelling was reported in Rafah on Thursday as the Israeli army massed tanks around the south Gaza city crowded with refugees, a day after US President Joe Biden warned Israel against carrying out a major ground assault.

• UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said it was temporarily shuttering its east Jerusalem headquarters after "Israeli extremists" set fire to the perimeter following weeks of repeated attacks.

• Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta are considering recognising a Palestinian state on May 21, according to a report by Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE issued on Thursday. Israel said that the plan constituted a "prize for terrorism" that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the Gaza conflict.

• Israeli strikes on Syria early Thursday targeted facilities belonging to Iraq's Al-Nujaba armed movement, a war monitor and the pro-Iran group said, with Damascus saying an unidentified building was attacked. No casualties were reported.

• At least 34,904 Palestinians have been killed and 78,514 wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

Yesterday's key developments:

• US President Joe Biden said he will not supply offensive weapons to Israel if it launches an assault on Rafah in his toughest public comments yet about Israel's military operation in Gaza.
• Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday "the mission has not been completed" in Israel's north in the conflict with Lebanon's Hezbollah, and that he remained determined to allow the safe return of evacuated Israeli residents to their homes.
• Israel said that it had reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing to humanitarian aid for Gaza.
• The Israeli military appeared on Wednesday to play down an arms shipment hold-up by the US, whose administration expressed disapproval of this week's operation in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, saying the allies resolve any disagreements "behind closed doors".
• Hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip have only three days of fuel left due to the closure of border crossings, the head of the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.
• A Lebanese security source said five people including two Hezbollah fighters were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, with a Palestinian armed group reporting three fatalities among its ranks.
• Dutch riot police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters as officers moved in to clear barricades at the city's main university, a scene of upheaval since Monday.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. For more on the health ministry’s casualty figures, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)