Palestinians report heavy shelling in south Gaza towns where civilians are seeking refuge

Palestinians in Gaza report intense bombardments near Khan Younis and Rafah, where Israel ordered civilians to seek refuge. US and Israeli officials seek aid and cease-fire to open Rafah crossing, while US Sec. Blinken and Gen. Kurilla meet with Israeli military.

Palestinians in Gaza reported intense bombardments near the southern towns of Khan Younis and Rafah, where Israel ordered civilians to seek refuge, early on Tuesday.

Details of causalities were not immediately available.

Israeli bombs hit areas west and southeast of Khan Younis and west of Rafah, according to local reports. Thousands of people trying to escape Gaza are gathered in Rafah, which contains the territory's only border crossing to Egypt, as international mediators press for a deal to allow aid in and refugees with foreign passports out.

The US hoped to break a deadlock over delivering aid to increasingly desperate civilians in besieged Gaza following a brutal attack by Hamas militants, as President Joe Biden was set to head to Israel and Jordan on Wednesday.

Aid workers warned that life in Gaza was near complete collapse because of the Israeli siege, with hundreds of thousands of people seeking shelter, ever-decreasing water supplies and power running out at hospitals.

At the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to go into the tiny, densely populated territory, and trapped civilians — many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities — were hoping desperately to get out.

Mediators were trying to reach a cease-fire to open the border, which shut down last week after Israeli airstrikes, but by early Tuesday it was unclear who was keeping the crossing closed.