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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet was
provisionally slated to meet at 6.30 pm (1530 GMT), followed by
the wider security cabinet, the source said. Israel does not
generally publish information on sessions of the two groups.
Israel awaits a response from Hamas on the latest ceasefire
offer, presented by Egyptian mediators, which would bring about
the release of some of the people the Palestinian faction seized
in the Oct 7 cross-border attack that triggered the Gaza war.
Past efforts stumbled over a Hamas demand for a commitment to
end the war by Israel, which insists on eventually resuming the
now almost seven-month-old offensive to dismantle the faction.
Israel has also described as imminent a long-threatened push
into Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, which it
describes as the last bastion of Hamas. Rafah is the temporary
home of around one million displaced Palestinians, whose fate
worries the international community.
While Israel says it will work to ensure the safe evacuation of
civilians from Rafah, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said on Wednesday he had yet to see such a plan.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Peter Graff)
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