Talks in Cairo aimed at securing a Gaza truce and negotiating the release of hostages have made "significant progress," as reported by Egyptian state-linked media on Monday.
This development comes more than six months into the conflict that began with the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion on southern Israel.
Despite ongoing discussions, Israel maintained its readiness for potential future military operations against Hamas in Rafah, located in the far south of Gaza and the only area yet to experience a ground invasion.
In a recent move, Israel withdrew its forces from the southern Gaza Strip, including the major city of Khan Yunis.
This withdrawal allowed many displaced Palestinians to return to the heavily damaged urban area.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed that the aim was for Israeli forces "to prepare for future missions, including ... in Rafah" on the Egyptian border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking half a year of war since Oct. 7, also said Israel was "one step away from victory."
However, as truce talks resumed, Netanyahu also told his Cabinet that "Israel is ready for a deal," adding that, "There will be no cease-fire without the return of hostages."
International pressure mounted on Israel to end the war, which brought mass civilian casualties and destroyed swathes of the coastal Palestinian territory.
Israel's main ally, diplomatic backer and arms supplier, the United States, last week demanded a cease-fire and hostage release deal along with ramped-up aid deliveries.
U.S. President Joe Biden sharpened his tone after voicing "outrage" over an Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers from the U.S.-based food charity World Central Kitchen.
While Israel and Hamas kept up bellicose rhetoric, they also sent negotiators to Cairo, joined by mediators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.
Egyptian state-linked news outlet Al-Qahera reported "significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement," citing an unnamed, high-ranking Egyptian source.
The outlet said Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return "within two days to finalize the terms of the agreement."
The U.S. and Israeli delegations were also due to leave the Egyptian capital "in the next few hours" for consultations over the next 48 hours, it added.
Better than tents
Israel's 98th commando division withdrew from Khan Yunis on Sunday and left Gaza "in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations," the army said.
After troops left the largely destroyed city, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south.
Maha Thaer, a mother of four returning to Khan Yunis, said she would move back into her badly damaged apartment, "even though it is not suitable for living, but it is better than tents."
Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, with damage to infrastructure, mostly housing, estimated at $18.5 billion, a World Bank report said.
Charities have accused Israel of blocking aid, but Israel has defended its efforts and blamed shortages on aid organizations' inability to distribute assistance once it gets in.
"The denial of basic needs – food, fuel, sanitation, shelter, security and health care – is inhumane and intolerable," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media platform X.
Aid trucks entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Sunday and medical supplies were brought in via Israel's Erez crossing in the north.
Iranian threats
As the war in Gaza has raged, the Middle East has also seen a surge of violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Israel was widely blamed for a strike early last week on the consulate building in Syria of its arch-foe Iran, sparking retaliatory threats from the Islamic Republic.
An adviser to Iran's supreme leader warned Sunday that Israeli embassies were "no longer safe" after the strike in Syria that killed seven Revolutionary Guards members.
Gallant said the army had "finished all its preparations to react to any scenario that could arise regarding Iran."
The Israeli army also said it had reached "another phase" of preparation on its northern border with Lebanon, where it has traded fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah for months.
Israeli fighter jets struck a compound of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Forces "in the area of Khiam," near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as well as a command center near Toura, northeast of Tyre, the army said.
Yemen's Houthi rebels, also backed by Iran, said they had targeted a British ship and two Israeli vessels after a British maritime security firm reported three separate attacks off Yemen's coast.
The Houthis have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, leading to U.S. retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets.
Iran's top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, hailed "the brave support of the Yemeni nation for the oppressed Palestinian nation," speaking in Oman on Sunday.