Gaza deaths set to pass 30,000 as Israel prepares Rafah assault

The death toll in Gaza is set to pass the grim milestone of 30,000 this week, as negotiators try to pin down a ceasefire and hostage release deal and the Israeli government presses ahead with planning an attack on Rafah.

- Emma Graham-Harrison

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened the war cabinet late on Saturday for a briefing from negotiators who had been at talks in Paris.

This week it will meet again to discuss preparations for an assault on Rafah, the southern border town where an estimated 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. A deal might delay that operation, but would not prevent it, Netanyahu told CBS in an interview.

Negotiators from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the US have agreed the "basic contours" of an arrangement during weekend talks in Paris, said the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, but the final details still have to be hammered out.

Israeli media reported that the prospective deal would involve the release of 30 or 40 hostages women, the elderly and the wounded - in exchange for up to 300 4 Palestinian prisoners, and a ceasefire lasting up to six weeks. Both sides would continue negotiations during the pause for further releases and a permanent ceasefire, an Egyptian official told the Associated Press.

The break in fighting would cover the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts around 10 March this year, and the deal would also include an increase in urgently needed aid.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are hungry, some desperately so, with aid agencies describing "pockets of famine" in the enclave. Infectious diseases have spread fast, and there is little access to medical care, with just 13 of Gaza's 34 hospitals functioning on a partial or minimal level.