GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Feb 6, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary

of State Antony Blinken visited Qatar on Tuesday on his latest Middle East
crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and "an enduring end" to the Israel-
Hamas war.

The US top envoy was later bound for Israel, hoping to shore up support for a
truce deal that was hashed out in Paris in January but has not yet been
signed off on by either Hamas or Israel.

Heavy strikes and fighting in Gaza killed at least 107 people in 24 hours,
said the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory that has been under
almost four months of bombardment.

Fears grew for more than a million Palestinians crowded into the far southern
Rafah area as the battlefront draws ever closer in Israel's campaign to
eradicate Hamas over the October 7 attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday that the military
"will reach places where we have not yet fought... right up to the last Hamas
bastion, which is Rafah", on the Egyptian border.

Palestinian Raed al-Bardani, 32, who has been displaced multiple times and
now lives in Rafah with his wife and four children, charged that "the goal is
to destroy Rafah because it is the only area that the occupation has not yet
destroyed".

"Where will we go if they storm Rafah?" he asked.

Blinken -- on his fifth regional tour since the bloodiest ever Gaza war broke
out -- earlier met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, a day
after he held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.

Blinken and Sisi "discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all
hostages held by Hamas," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

The US envoy also "expressed appreciation for Egypt's leadership role in
facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in
Gaza".

And Blinken emphasised Washington's "rejection of any forced displacement of
Palestinians from Gaza and commitment to establishing a Palestinian state
that provides peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike", Miller
said.

- 'Beyond catastrophic' -

Israeli troops, with air and naval support, have been engaged in heavy combat
centred on Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas's
Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, much of which has been reduced to rubble.

Israel accuses Sinwar of masterminding the October 7 attack, 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. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza
including 28 who are believed to have been killed.

Israel's withering military campaign has killed at least 27,585 people in
Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

The army said Tuesday that "over the past day, dozens of terrorists have been
killed and approximately 80 individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist
activity have been apprehended, including a number of terrorists that took
part in the October 7 massacre".

"No place is safe, no place at all -- where shall we go?" one Palestinian,
Mohamad Kozaat, said after six members of his family were wounded in an
Israeli strike on Rafah.

"The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic," said
Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.

He said around 8,000 displaced people had been evacuated from the besieged
Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, where they had sought refuge, after weeks of
heavy shelling and fighting nearby.

The United States has strongly backed its top regional ally Israel with
munitions and diplomatic support, but also urged steps to reduce civilian
casualties.

The truce Blinken is hoping to seal proposes a six-week pause to fighting as
Hamas frees hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and
more aid for Gaza, according to a Hamas source.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced divisions within his
cabinet and public fury over the fate of the remaining hostages, said Israel
"will not accept" demands Hamas has made for an exchange involving thousands
of prisoners.

- Huthi attacks -

As the Gaza war has raged, violence has also flared in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria
and Yemen, where Iran-backed groups have launched attacks in support of
Hamas, triggering counterattacks by Israel and the United States and its
partners.

Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot, on a visit to Iraq, recalled that
US President Joe Biden had "made it clear not to seek further escalation, and
that is crucial. I call on all actors to do the same."

The Israeli army said strikes from Lebanon lightly wounded two soldiers and
that it retaliated with artillery "and struck the sources of the fire". Its
fighter jets had also targeted Hezbollah bases near Marwahin and Meiss El
Jabal in southern Lebanon.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis have for weeks been targeting what they say are
Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with
Palestinians.

The attacks have disrupted global trade and prompted reprisals by US and
British forces, including strikes on two "explosive-laden drone boats" on
Monday, according to the US military.

The Huthis said Tuesday they had struck US and British commercial ships in
two separate attacks.

Huthi spokesman Yahya Saree said "the first attack targeted the American ship
Star Nasia, while the other targeted the British ship Morning Tide".

Netanyahu vowed on Monday that "a complete victory will deal a fatal blow"
not just to Hamas but also to other Iran-backed militant groups across the
region.