Hopes dim for Gaza truce before Ramadan as war enters sixth month

Hopes dimmed on Thursday for a truce before Ramadan in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that entered its sixth month with dozens more killed, according to the health ministry in the territory threatened by famine.

The ministry said 83 more people had been killed over the previous day, adding to a toll it says has reached 30,800, mostly women and children, in a war that China called “a disgrace to civilization.”

 Israel will push on with its offensive against Hamas despite growing international pressure, including into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

“There is international pressure and it’s growing, but particularly when the international pressure rises, we must close ranks, we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war,” he said.

The military would operate against Hamas all through the Gaza Strip, he said, “including Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold.”

 Multilateral consultations on the settlement of the situation in the Gaza Strip ended without any agreements reached between Hamas and Israel, Al Jazeera television reported.

According to the report, the talks involved mediators and discussed a potential ceasefire.

Sources told the television channel that Israel rejected Hamas’s demands for "a permanent ceasefire, withdrawal of military units from the Strip and unconditional return of displaced persons."