Hamas claims to be fighting Israeli troops on the outskirts of the city of Rafah in the south of the crowded Gaza Strip on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

Meanwhile, a US official said the US had stopped sending high-powered bombs because Israel could use a full-scale attack.
The US, which is seeking to prevent an Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believed Hamas's revised ceasefire proposal could lead to a breakthrough in the talks deadlock.

Reporting from Reuters, Israel has threatened to carry out a major attack on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas members who it claims are hiding there. However, Western countries and the United Nations have warned that a full-scale attack on the city would be a humanitarian disaster.

“The streets of this city echo with the cries of innocent lives, families torn apart, and homes reduced to rubble. "We are on the brink of a humanitarian disaster of unprecedented proportions," said Rafah Mayor Ahmed Al-Sofi, calling on the international community to intervene.

About 10,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since the beginning of this week, said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number in the tens of thousands.

A senior US official said President Joe Biden's administration halted arms shipments to Israel last week in apparent response to the expected Rafah attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Washington had carefully reviewed the shipment of weapons that might be used in Rafah.

The US halted shipments of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. This will be the first delay since the Biden administration offered strong support to Israel following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.