CAIRO - Washington said it was trying to keep Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas engaged "if only virtually" in Gaza truce efforts as a UN agency warned that humanitarian aid stocks in the devastated enclave have hit "the bottom of the barrel."Hamas said on Friday it would consult with other militant Palestinian factions on its strategy to negotiate a halt to the war triggered by its Oct. 7 onslaught into Israel.
The French foreign ministry also called on Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing in a statement urging "Israeli authorities to cease this military operation without delay and return to the path of negotiations."Nearly 35,000 people have died in the war, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. Some 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 taken hostage in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the conflict, according to Israeli tallies.