Israel pounds Gaza defying US truce plan

But Netanyahu took issue with Biden's presentation of what was on the table, insisting on Friday the transition from one stage to the next was "conditional" and crafted to allow Israel to maintain its war aims.

"The prime minister authorised the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving (the return of hostages), while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved," Netanyahu's office said.

"The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles."

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government "cannot ignore Biden's important speech" and should accept the proposed deal, vowing to back Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners quit over it.

"I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net for a hostage deal," Lapid said yesterday on social media platform X.

Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.

Yesterday, residents reported tank fire in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in west Rafah, while witnesses in the east and centre of Rafah described intense shelling.

"From the early hours of the night until this morning, the aerial and artillery bombardment has not stopped for a single moment", a resident from west Rafah told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"There are a number of occupation (Israeli) snipers in high-rise buildings overseeing all areas of Tal al-Sultan... making the situation very dangerous", the resident added.

There was also shelling and gunfire from the Israeli army in Gaza City, in the north of the territory, an AFP reporter said.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory's main exit point.

Israel said last week that aid deliveries had been stepped up.

But Blinken acknowledged on Friday that the humanitarian situation was "dire" despite US efforts to bring in more assistance.

Egyptian state-linked Al-Qahera News said Cairo will host a meeting with Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

The World Food Programme said daily life had become "apocalyptic" in parts of southern Gaza.

Since Oct 7, Israel has been carrying out an offensive in occupied Gaza that has killed at least 36,379 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and its neighbouring refugee camp, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.

The Israeli army said troops "completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip".

Jabalia shopkeeper Belal al-Kahlot said there was nothing left of his store after the Israeli operation.

"Everything is ashes," he told AFP.