Egypt awaits response to truce plan amid Gaza bombing

GAZA — Israeli forces on Thursday heavily bombed the Gaza Strip, with the center of fierce combat against Hamas moving steadily south, as Egypt says it is awaiting responses from all sides on its cease-fire plan to end the conflict.

The conflict, which started with Hamas' Oct 7 attack on Israel, has devastated much of northern Gaza as air and artillery strikes have become heaviest in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The health ministry in Hamasrun Gaza reported at least 50 deaths and dozens more wounded in strikes across the territory on Thursday morning. Heavy artillery strikes were reported overnight particularly on Khan Younis.

More than 80 percent of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been driven from their homes, the UN says, and many now live in cramped shelters or makeshift tents in the far south, in and around the city of Rafah near Egypt.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for "urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril" facing Gaza's people, including "terrible injuries, acute hunger and … severe risk of disease".

Egypt confirmed on Thursday it had put forward a framework proposal to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that includes three stages ending with a cease-fire, and said it was awaiting responses on the plan.

According to Hamas, a delegation of the group was due in Cairo on Friday to give its "observations" about the Egyptian plan.

The plan was put last week to officials of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which is also battling Israeli forces in the territory, when the chiefs of both movements visited the Egyptian capital.

Sources close to Hamas say Cairo's three-stage plan provides for renewable cease-fires, a staggered release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and ultimately a ceasefire to end the conflict.

In Syria, Israel carried out an aerial strike targeting the main Syrian air defense base in the south on Thursday in the latest bombing campaign since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza, Syrian army and intelligence sources said.

Citing a Syrian military source, state media had earlier said missile strikes coming from the direction of the Golan Heights had targeted several sites it did not identify.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a group of money exchange services from Yemen and Turkiye that were allegedly providing funding to Houthi forces who have been launching attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.

In recent weeks, Houthis have intensified their attacks on "Israellinked" ships passing the Red Sea, demanding an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and the delivery of food and medicines to the enclave.

Agencies - Xinhua