Israeli war cabinet to meet on hostages, Rafah plan on Thursday

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Top Israeli ministers will convene on Thursday to discuss a proposed Gaza truce to free some hostages held by Hamas, as well as prospects for an army sweep of the southern tip of the enclave packed with displaced Palestinians, a government source said.

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)