The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal, saying on Saturday it had handed to mediators in Egypt and Qatar its response to the proposal it had received last Monday.

Israeli soldiers prepare near the Israel-Gaza border.

After more than six months of war with Israel in Gaza, the negotiations remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands that any agreement must end the war.

"We.. reaffirm our adherence to our demands and the national demands of our people; with a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their areas and places of residence, intensification of the entry of relief and aid, and the start of reconstruction," the Islamist faction said.

Israel wants to secure the return of hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, but says it will not stop fighting until Hamas is destroyed as a military force. It also says it still plans to carry out an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million civilians have taken refuge.

Hamas said on Saturday it was ready to conclude a prisoners-for-hostages swap deal with Israel that would see the release of 133 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel.

There was no official Israeli comment on Hamas’ response.

The Hamas statement came a few days after Israel killed several members of the family of the group's chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza, raising fears among the families of hostages that it would derail efforts to secure their release from Gaza.

Speaking to Reuters in Qatar a day after the killing, Haniyeh said his group still sought a deal but accused Israel of procrastinating and evading a response to the group's demands.

Global calls for a ceasefire have been growing as the war has entered its seventh month, but there has been little sign of progress in the talks.

Hamas is demanding an end to the Israeli offensive, a withdrawal of Israeli forces, and permission for Gaza's displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.

Dozens of Palestinians killed in Gaza as Hamas official vows to 'break' Israel

Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the north and centre of the Gaza Strip on Friday as Khaled Meshaal, a senior official in Gaza's ruling Hamas movement, said its six-month-old battle with Israel would "break the enemy soon".

Most Israeli troops have been pulled out of the Palestinian enclave in preparation for an assault on its southernmost city Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering, but fighting has continued in various areas.

Residents of Al-Nusseirat camp in central Gaza said dozens were dead or wounded after Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea that had followed a surprise ground assault on Thursday, and that houses and two mosques had been destroyed.

Health officials said earlier that six people had been killed in strikes on the cinder-block camp, which has housed Palestinian refugee families since 1948, with around 70 wounded, including three Palestinian journalists.

In Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said at least 25 people had been killed and several wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood. Gaza's health ministry said 89 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli military strikes in the space of 24 hours.

The Israeli military (IDF) said in a statement that it was pursuing "a precise intelligence-based operation" against militants and their infrastructure in central Gaza.

"Over the past day, IDF fighter jets struck over 60 terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including underground launch posts, military infrastructure and sites in which armed terrorists operated," it said. "In parallel, IDF artillery struck terrorist infrastructure in the central Gaza Strip."

In a statement, Hamas said Israel's bombardment in Al-Nusseirat targeted civilian homes and property "after failing to achieve any military accomplishment on the ground or to implement any of its criminal agendas by displacing our people".

Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians, accusing Hamas of using residential buildings for cover. Hamas denies this.

Meshaal, who lives in exile and heads Hamas' political office in the diaspora, spoke at an event in Doha, Qatar to mourn members of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's family killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza on Wednesday.

"This is not the final round," Meshaal said, referring to the current war. "It is an important round on the path of liberating Palestine and defeating the Zionist project."

At least 33,634 Palestinians, including 89 in the past 24 hours, have been killed since the Israeli offensive began, Gaza's health ministry said in an update on Friday, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the densely populated enclave demolished.

The war began when Hamas led a lightning cross-border attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. Around 130 are still being held incommunicado in Gaza, Israel says.

Deflecting repeated U.S. calls for restraint, Israel vows to storm Rafah because, it says, significant Hamas combat forces are hiding there after being routed elsewhere.

In the latest sign that an Israeli assault on Rafah could be imminent, warplanes dropped leaflets on a western neighbourhood asking for information about the hostages.

“To residents of Tel Al-Sultan, look carefully around you, the hostages could be somewhere near you. If you want to protect your families and your future, don’t hesitate to provide us with any information about the hostages and their captors,” the leaflets read.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘The only way to describe it is evil,’ Burlison says of war's destruction in Israel

Eric Burlison, who represents Missouri’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House, recently visited Israel, witnessing firsthand the impact of the prolonged violence on the country.

Israel has been embroiled in the conflict against Hamas since Oct. 7, when Hamas and several other militant groups attacked an area in Gaza, killing roughly 1,200 people with at least 250 more kidnapped.

Since then, nearly 34,000 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have died in the conflict. President Joe Biden has called for a temporary ceasefire and has condemned what he feels is a lack of action to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden’s call for a ceasefire drew a sharp rebuke from Burlison, who feels that calls for a ceasefire will undermine Israel’s attempts to rescue hostages, which include several U.S. citizens.

“The mission to rescue the hostages and defeat the Hamas battalions in Gaza is not over,” Burlison said in a post on X. “And while defeating the evil ideas within Hamas might be difficult, it is completely possible to destroy their battalions and take away the authority that Hamas has over Gaza.”

During his trip, Burlison encountered the utter destruction of homes and businesses and had the opportunity to speak with people who witnessed the horror firsthand.

“The only way to describe it is evil,” Burlison said of the war-torn rubble that was once somebody's home.

He visited a kibbutz, or Israeli communal settlement, that had once been home to peaceful inhabitants, which had been decimated since the Oct. 7 attack.

“Each home is riddled with bullet holes. Most of them were burned and they used incendiary devices in the homes that basically quickly burned everything in it,” Burlison said. “It was just horrific.”

Burlison visited the site where the Nova Music Festival had been held. Hamas insurgents launched a surprise attack on concert goers on Oct. 7.

“We saw photos of hundreds of young people in their early 20s that were all murdered or kidnapped,” Burlison said. “It was a moving experience.”

He had the chance to speak with the parents of a U.S. citizen named Hirsch who was kidnapped, one of many people unaccounted for in the conflict.

“I learned from his mother and his father about him as a person and the story of how he ended up in that situation,” Burlison said. “It was just a startling moment for me to realize that here we have American citizens who are being held hostage. We're relying on Israel to rescue Hirsch and the other US citizens.”

This experience has strengthened Burlison’s resolve to ensure that the United States does all that it can to support Israel and ensure these hostages are rescued and returned to their families. He saw firsthand the displacement of thousands of families from their homes.

“Many of them can't even go back to their homes because their homes have been bombed,” Burlison said.

He also raised concerns about pro-Hamas messaging that is circulating on social media platforms like TikTok, especially those targeting younger audiences and universities.

As a member of the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, Burlison said that he has seen evidence that money from countries sympathetic to Hamas and Hezbollah are sent to groups on college campuses that promote messaging that he feels is meant to indoctrinate the youth.

“We have to make sure these universities are held accountable, that they're not taking money,” Burlison said. “They're not for sale to our adversaries and we must ensure that these groups are not trying to indoctrinate our kids, our young people.”

Israeli blockade on journalists is fueling an 'information war'

As Israel has continued its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, its restrictions on journalists' access to the region have drawn scrutiny. New data released Thursday suggests Israel's tactics are fueling an "information war" with perverse incentives for hate-mongers and conspiracy theorists.

The Committee to Protect Journalists' preliminary estimate counts 95 journalists and media workers who have been killed in Gaza since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and the vast majority of those journalists are Palestinian. At the same time, Israel's decision to prevent international journalists from entering has enraged activists and the Foreign Press Association.

The Israeli Supreme Court in January upheld a ban on journalists entering Gaza that was imposed after the Hamas attack, the Times of Israel reported; the few foreign journalists allowed in have been under military escort and subject to censorship. And earlier this month, the Knesset passed a law that gave the government the ability to close foreign-owned media outlets like the Qatar-based Al Jazeera.

Israel’s choice raises “questions about what Israel does not want international journalists to see,” the Foreign Press Association said in a press release Monday.

That same day, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Israel’s refusal to allow international journalists into Gaza has created an “information war” that’s added trauma to the already harrowing situation in the region. “Denying international journalists entry in to Gaza is allowing disinformation and false narratives to flourish,” he said.

The White House co-signed that sentiment Thursday:

Israel’s war with Hamas — which was launched after the Oct. 7 terror attack but which has evolved into a full-scale obliteration of Gaza — has also become a vacuum into which conspiracy theorists and propagandists can pump disinformation and hate. It’s a point I discussed with Joy Reid and my colleague Brandy Zadrozny on "The ReidOut" last fall.

And new data released Thursday by the watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate shows how profiteers have made bank spreading dubious and bigoted claims about the ongoing conflict. The report is "Hate Pays: How X accounts are exploiting the Israel-Gaza conflict to grow and profit," 

“Accounts posting anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim content about the Israel-Gaza conflict are accumulating new followers on X at a significantly higher rate since October 7,” said the center's press release, “exploiting policy changes enacted under Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform.”

The report highlights the crisis that is flourishing because of Israel’s refusal to allow journalists into Gaza. In lieu of reporters who can provide accurate details about what's happening in the region, people are turning to unreliable sources who use that opportunity to foment hate and sow division.

West Bank sees biggest settler rampage since war in Gaza began as Israeli teen's body is found

Smoke fills the sky after Israeli settlers set fire to the properties of Palestinian villagers in the West Bank village of al-Mughayyir, Saturday, April 13, 2024. Israel's army says the body of a missing Israeli teen has been found in the occupied West Bank after he was killed in a "terrorist attack." The disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair sparked a large attack by settlers on the Palestinian village on Friday and Saturday.

 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank went on the largest rampage against Palestinians there since the war in Gaza began, as Israel's army said Saturday the body of a missing Israeli teen was found after he was killed in a “terrorist attack.” Witnesses said settlers assaulted a number of communities.

The Israeli military said dozens of people were injured in confrontations in several locations, with shots fired and rocks thrown. It did not specify how many Palestinians and Israelis were hurt. Several companies with the defense forces were deployed and “all of the incidents have concluded,” it asserted.

The disappearance of 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair sparked the attacks on Palestinian villages on Friday and Saturday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a statement on social media urged people not to take the law into their own hands in the territory where tensions have simmered for months.

On Friday, Palestinian Jehad Abu Alia was killed and 25 others were wounded in the attack on al-Mughayyir village, Palestinian health officials said. On Saturday, Israeli troops delayed for several hours the ambulance carrying the 26-year-old man's body for burial, witnesses said.

Dozens of Israeli settlers returned to the village's outskirts on Saturday, burning 12 homes and several cars. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people from the village were injured, one critically. Border police fired tear gas toward villagers who gathered, trying to disperse them.

“They entered the house and burned it and burned cars, as you can see,” 42-year-old Akef Abu Allu said, looking at his blackened two-story home in al-Mughayyir.

In the nearby village of Douma, Israeli settlers set fire to around 15 homes and 10 farms, the head of the local village council, Slieman Dawabsheh, told The Associated Press, saying he had been there. “The army came but unfortunately, the army were protecting the settlers,” he said, asserting that it fired tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians trying to confront and expel them.

The Israeli military didn't respond to questions. The Palestinian Red Crescent said six people were injured by gunfire but did not say who fired.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din in a statement said at least 10 villages in the West Bank were attacked by Israeli settlers, with homes and vehicles damaged.

Tensions in the West Bank have been especially high since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Oct. 7, sparked by the Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. More than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza health officials.

Since then, Hamas has been trying to ignite other fronts, including in the West Bank, in hopes of exerting more pressure on Israel. Such efforts have largely failed, though more than 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since Oct. 7, most in clashes sparked by army raids but some by vigilante settlers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing of the Israeli teen.

According to Israeli media, the teen was last seen leaving the settler outpost of Malachei Shalom early Friday to tend to livestock nearby. The sheep returned to the outpost hours later without him, reports said.

Israel's Channel 13 TV reported that Achimair's body was discovered by a drone. The broadcaster said he was not shot but did not elaborate.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the killing. “We will get to the murderers and their helpers as we do to anyone who harms the citizens of the state of Israel,” he said in a statement issued by his office.

In 2014, the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank escalated tensions and eventually ignited a 50-day Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, at the time the deadliest round of fighting between the two sides.

Consecutive Israeli governments have expanded Israeli settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories the Palestinians seek for a future state, along with Gaza. Some are highly developed and resemble suburbs of Israeli cities, while smaller outposts often have only a few caravans.

While Israel has established scores of settlements across the occupied West Bank, the outposts are not authorized, though the government gives them tacit support. The international community overwhelmingly considers all West Bank settlements illegal and obstacles to peace.

Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories captured by Israel in 1967.