Gaza City

An all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke "anarchy" without eliminating Hamas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday, as death toll in the war had exceeded 35,000 people.

Separately, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan emphasized Washington's concerns about an offensive in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.

Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Palestinian territory after an Israeli evacuation order sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from Rafah.

Israel launched strikes on Gaza Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah, with the United Nations warning an outright invasion of the crowded southern city risked an "epic" disaster.

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in recent days, the United Nations said on May 10, with Israeli tanks encircling the eastern half of the southern Gaza city, under threat of a full-scale ground invasion.

Israeli airstrikes targeted areas in Rafah on Thursday, as reported by Palestinian residents, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed US President Joe Biden's warning of withholding weapons from Israel if it attacks the southern Gaza city.

Israel launched fresh strikes in the Gaza Strip Friday after negotiators pursuing a long-stalled truce agreement left talks in Cairo without having secured a deal.

AFP journalists in the Gaza Strip early Friday witnessed artillery strikes on Rafah on the territory's southern border with Egypt, while witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in Gaza City further north.

Israel bombarded the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah, where it has launched a ground incursion, as talks resumed yesterday in Cairo aimed at agreeing the terms of a truce in the seven-month war.

Despite international objections, Israel sent tanks into Rafah on May 7 and seized the nearby crossing into Egypt that is the main conduit for aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Monday informed mediators Qatar and Egypt that Hamas had accepted their proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza after nearly seven months of war.

Talks to reach a Gaza truce were expected to resume Sunday after officials from the Hamas Islamist organisation and Israel publicly disagreed over demands to end their seven-month war.

While mediation took place in Egypt, the head of the U.N.'s World Food Programme said "there is famine" in northern Gaza, and appealed for a ceasefire.

A Hamas delegation is due to arrive Monday in Egypt, where it will respond to Israel's latest proposal for a long-sought hostage-release deal and truce in the Gaza Strip after almost seven months of war.

Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months, as the death toll in Gaza rises and calls for a deal intensify.