Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Feb. 2024.AP
The languishing efforts to pause the four-month-old war come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Saturday to reject international appeals to spare Gaza's southernmost city Rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million people have sought refuge.
Israel's relentless war has edged closer to the city, with overnight attacks killing at least 10 Gazans there and in central Gaza's Deir Al-Balah, according to a tally by official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Neighboring Egypt has grown increasingly wary that an Israeli invasion of Rafah could force the Gazans trapped there across the border.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday reiterated Egypt's opposition to any forced displacement into the Sinai desert.
In a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, both leaders agreed instead on the "necessity of the swift advancement of a ceasefire," according to a summary.
Even if a temporary truce deal is struck at the talks in Cairo, Netanyahu said his troops' ground invasion of Rafah will go ahead.
"Even if we achieve it, we will enter Rafah," he said at a televised news conference Saturday.
Countries urging Israel otherwise are effectively saying "lose the war", he said.
Netanyahu spoke as thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, the latest public call for an immediate election by demonstrators who also accuse the government of abandoning captives.
"Take politics out of decisions about our loved ones' lives," said Nissan Calderon, brother of captve Ofer Calderon. "This is the moment of truth, there won't be many more like it if the Cairo initiative collapses."
'Not very promising'
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called talks for captives deal "not very promising".
He said the efforts had been complicated by the insistence of "a lot of countries" that any new truce involve further releases of captives.
His assessment came as Hamas threatened to suspend its involvement in the talks unless relief supplies reach the north, where aid agencies have warned of looming famine.
"Negotiations cannot be held while hunger is ravaging the Palestinian people," a senior source in the Palestinian Hamas member told AFP.
Fears for patients after raid
Earlier, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh reiterated the group's demands, which Netanyahu called "ludicrous".
They include a complete pause in fighting, the release of Hamas prisoners, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Netanyahu also rejected pressure from Western governments for a recognition of a Palestinian state.
Israel said Saturday it has detained 100 people from one of Gaza's few operating hospitals after troops raided the complex.
At least 120 patients and five medical teams are stuck without water, food, and electricity in Nasser Hospital in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Intense fighting has raged around Nasser Hospital.
The Israeli occupation army said troops entered the hospital on Thursday, acting on what it said was "credible intelligence" that captives had been held there. It later acknowledged it found no firm evidence that they had.
'We need food now'
The power was cut and the generators stopped after the raid, leading to the deaths of six patients due to a lack of oxygen, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
A witness told AFP the Israeli forces had shot "at anyone who moved inside the hospital".
In northern Gaza, many are so desperate for food they are grinding up animal feed.
"We're going to die from hunger, not by bombs or missiles," said Mohammed Nassar, 50, from Jabalia in the territory's north.
As a much-needed delivery of supplies arrived in southern Gaza Saturday, the UN again warned that Gazans are close to famine.
Short link: