GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Feb  4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli
strikes across Gaza killed scores overnight and battles raged Sunday in the
besieged territory's south as Hamas was reviewing a proposal for a halt in the
nearly four-month-long war.

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne was in Egypt and US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken expected in the region in the coming days to push for a
ceasefire and hostage release.

The health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory said at least 127 people
were killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours in the Gaza Strip, more
than 90 of them overnight.

The Hamas government media office said a kindergarten where families were
sheltering was hit in the southern border city of Rafah, which is teeming with
Palestinians displaced by the war.

"There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, from north to south," displaced
man Mohammed Kloub told AFP in Rafah, which according to UN figures now hosts
more than half of Gaza's population.

Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on Rafah as part of its
campaign to eliminate Hamas.

An AFP journalist reported strikes and tank fire on Khan Yunis, southern
Gaza's main city, with some air raids also hitting nearby Rafah.

The army said Sunday its troops raided "a compound used by the commander of
Hamas's Khan Yunis brigade" and seized weapons, also confirming air and naval
strikes on the city.

It reported several militants had been killed after attempting to attack
Israeli troops.

- 'Hitting them hard' -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army had "destroyed 17
of 24 (Hamas) battalions. Most of the remaining battalions are in the southern
Strip and in Rafah, and we will deal with them."

"The pressure on Hamas is working, they are in a very difficult situation
and we are hitting them hard," said Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

With the war set to enter a fifth month on Wednesday, international
mediators were pressing to seal a proposed truce deal thrashed out in a Paris
meeting of top US, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials.

Sejourne, at the start of his first Middle East tour as foreign minister,
said on social media that he had told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
of France's desire "for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and restarting talks
for a... two-state solution".

A top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said Saturday the group
needed more time to "announce our position" on the truce deal.

Hamdan added that Hamas wanted "to put an end as quickly as possible to the
aggression that our people suffer".

A Hamas source has said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause
that would see more aid delivered into Gaza and the phased release of Israeli
hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

- Criticism over US backing -

Netanyahu hit back over criticism within his own cabinet that Washington
has not fully backed Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

"We greatly appreciate the support that we have received from the Biden
administration since the outbreak of the war," the premier insisted.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had told the Wall Street Journal
that US President Joe Biden was "busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to
Gaza), which goes to Hamas".

The United States is Israel's main international ally, providing billions
of dollars each year in military support.

But in recent weeks it has insisted on greater protection of civilians in
the Gaza Strip as well as the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

- Gaza rendered 'unlivable' -

The war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel,
which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according
to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in
Gaza including at least 27 believed to have been killed.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive
that has killed at least 27,365 people in Gaza, mostly women and children,
according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.

Gazans have faced dire humanitarian conditions, and the UN agency for
Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on social media platform X that "there is
very limited access to clean water and sanitation amid relentless bombardment."

Experts and rights groups told AFP that Israeli forces have destroyed
buildings near the border in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the
Palestinian territory.

Israel has not publicly confirmed the plan, which Nadia Hardman, an expert
on refugees at Human Rights Watch, said "may amount to a war crime".

"We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large
parts of Gaza unlivable," she said.

France's Sejourne told his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that he
understood Cairo's concerns over "forced displacement" of Palestinians into
Egypt from the Gaza Strip.

"We condemn and will reject any action taken in this direction," he said.

- 'Turmoil' across region -

Concern for hostages still in Gaza and security failures surrounding the
October 7 attack -- the deadliest in Israel's 75-year history -- have led to
criticism of Netanyahu and rallies against the government.

Michal Hadas, protesting in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, told AFP she feared
Israel's leaders were dragging out the conflict for political reasons, "because
as long as the war continues there will be no election".

The war has also sent regional tensions soaring, with a surge in attacks by
Iran-backed groups in solidarity with Gaza triggering counterattacks by key
Israel ally the United States.

The United States and its partner Britain said they struck dozens of
targets in Yemen late Saturday in response to repeated attacks on shipping by
Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

A Huthi spokesman said the latest wave of air strikes "will not pass
without response and punishment".

Iran said the attacks "contradicted" US and UK statements on preventing
regional escalation, and Hamas warned the strikes would bring "further turmoil"
to the Middle East.