GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: International pressure mounted Monday for a ceasefire in Gaza as Britain, France and Germany made a joint plea for an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas with "no further delay."
The call came a day after Palestinian group Hamas – whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war – urged mediators to implement a truce plan presented by US President Joe Biden instead of holding more talks.
"The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released," French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a joint statement.
"The people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid," it said.
"There can be no further delay."
International mediators have invited Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations, after deadly strikes in the Gaza Strip and the killings of Iran-aligned group leaders sparked fears of a wider conflict.
Israel has accepted the invitation from the United States, Qatar and Egypt to send negotiators for talks planned for Thursday.
"The reason we're doing that is to finalise the details of the implementation of the framework agreement," Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a news conference.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was slow to publicly embrace the proposal after Biden laid it out on May 31, even as the US president described it as an Israeli plan. Some far-right Israeli ministers still oppose it.
Hamas said on Sunday it wanted the implementation of the three-phase plan, which the UN Security Council has endorsed, "rather than going through more negotiation rounds or new proposals."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "welcomes the mediation efforts... and urges both sides to rejoin negotiations and conclude the ceasefire and hostage release deal", said his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Hamas on Tuesday named its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar to succeed political leader and truce negotiator Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed on July 31 in Tehran in an attack blamed on Israel, which has not claimed responsibility.
Haniyeh's killing, just hours after Israel assassinated the military chief of Lebanese group Hizbollah in a strike in Beirut, spurred intense diplomacy to avert a wider war in the Middle East.
Iran, Hamas and Hizbollah have vowed retaliation. Israel's key ally the United States said: "We have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks."
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Biden spoke on Monday with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy to discuss tensions in the Middle East.
The Pentagon earlier said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered an aircraft carrier group to hasten its arrival in the region.
Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday it had strengthened defences and organised "offensive options" as "threats from Tehran and Beirut may materialise."
Pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza grew after civil defence rescuers in the Hamas-run territory said an Israeli air strike on Saturday killed 93 people at a school housing displaced Palestinians.
AFP could not independently verify the toll which, if confirmed, would be one of the largest from a single strike during the 10-month-old war.
Guterres condemned "yet another devastating strike by Israel" on Gaza City's Al-Tabieen school "with scores of fatalities amidst continued horror, displacement and suffering", Haq said.
Israel said it targeted fighters operating out of the school and mosque complex with "precise munitions." The army published the names of 31 people it said were fighters who died in the raid.
Gaza officials told AFP on Monday that they had identified the bodies of 75 of those killed, while others were charred and torn apart.
The Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Fighters also seized 251 people, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,897 people, according to a new toll from the territory's health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and fighters' deaths.
Biden, unveiling the proposed roadmap in late May, said its first phase would include a "complete ceasefire" lasting six weeks, with some hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The second phase would see the remaining living hostages released as the warring sides negotiate "a permanent end to hostilities", followed by "a major reconstruction plan for Gaza" and the return of dead hostages' remains.
The plan envisions the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of displaced Gazans and a "surge" in humanitarian aid entering the besieged territory.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that in recent days more than 75,000 people had been displaced in southwest Gaza.
The entire Gaza Strip has a population of about 2.4 million people, the vast majority of whom have been displaced at least once during the war.
In the city of Khan Yunis, ravaged by months of bombardment and battles, AFP journalists on Sunday reported hundreds of Palestinians had fled northern neighbourhoods after Israel issued fresh evacuation orders.
On Monday, witnesses told AFP Israel struck Khan Yunis and Rafah from the air.
Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, which has been fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, said its fighters were battling Israeli troops in Khan Yunis.
In central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, Suhail Abu Batihan said Israeli bombardment was "causing terror" among residents, calling on mediators and "the world... to intervene to stop this war."--AFP