‘A path forward’
Mediator Egypt said the two sides must show “flexibility” in order to strike a deal for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange in the seven-month war, according to a foreign ministry statement.
CIA director William Burns, who is also part of the truce efforts, is due to return to the United States from the Middle East on Friday, the White House said.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t still ongoing discussions,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
“We still believe that there’s a path forward, but it’s going to take some leadership on both sides.”
But at a makeshift refugee camp in Rafah, displaced Gazan Inas Mazen al-Shami said she was fed up with the stalling.
“We have no money and we don’t have the means to move from one place to another again and again. We have no means at all,” she said.
The Gaza war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
During the attack, militants also seized some 250 hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza, including 36 who officials say are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,904 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Focus on Rafah
All eyes have been on Rafah in recent weeks, where the population has swelled to around 1.5 million after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled fighting and bombardments in other areas of Gaza in a desperate search for safety.
Countries around the world, including key Israeli backer the United States, have urged Israel not to extend its ground offensive into Rafah, citing fears of a large civilian toll.
Israel insists, however, that in order to achieve its war aims, it must send ground troops into the city, where it claims senior Hamas military leaders are hiding.
Israel has since Tuesday conducted military operations in parts of Rafah, and seized control of a key border crossing into Egypt, sparking condemnation from aid groups that rely on the crossing to send assistance into the territory.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden issued his starkest warning yet to Israel since the start of the war, saying he would stop some US weapons supplies to Israel if it carried out its long-threatened ground assault.
Biden told CNN: “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used… to deal with the cities.”
“We’re not gonna supply the weapons and the artillery shells that have been used,” he added.
In Israel’s first reaction to Biden’s threat, its UN ambassador Gilad Erdan called it a “very disappointing statement”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond directly to the US threat.
However, he said in a statement: “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone.”
It has been his repeated refrain in recent days as both international and domestic criticism of his handling of the war have intensified.