Blinken in Qatar on tour to seek 'enduring end' to Gaza war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Qatar on Tuesday on his latest Middle East crisis tour, seeking a new ceasefire and "an enduring end" to the Israel-Hamas war.

The US top envoy was later bound for Israel, hoping to shore up support for a truce deal that was hashed out in Paris in January but has not yet been signed off on by either Hamas or Israel.

Heavy strikes and fighting in Gaza killed at least 107 people in 24 hours, said the health ministry in the Gaza Strip that has been under almost four months of bombardment.

Fears grew for more than a million Palestinians crowded into the far southern Rafah area as the battlefront draws ever closer in Israel's campaign to eradicate Hamas over the October 7 attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Monday that the military "will reach places where we have not yet fought... right up to the last Hamas bastion, which is Rafah", on the Egyptian border.

Palestinian Raed al-Bardani, 32, who has been displaced multiple times and now lives in Rafah with his wife and four children, charged that "the goal is to destroy Rafah because it is the only area that the occupation has not yet destroyed".

"Where will we go if they storm Rafah?" he asked.

Blinken -- on his fifth regional tour since the bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out -- earlier met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, a day after he held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.

Blinken and Sisi "discussed ongoing efforts to secure the release of all hostages held by Hamas," said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

The US envoy also "expressed appreciation for Egypt's leadership role in facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza".

And Blinken emphasised Washington's "rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and commitment to establishing a Palestinian state that provides peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike", Miller said.

"No place is safe, no place at all -- where shall we go?" one Palestinian, Mohamad Kozaat, said after six members of his family were wounded in an Israeli strike on Rafah.

"The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic," said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

He said around 8,000 displaced people had been evacuated from the besieged Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis, where they had sought refuge, after weeks of heavy shelling and fighting nearby.

The United States has strongly backed its top regional ally Israel with munitions and diplomatic support, but also urged steps to reduce civilian casualties.

The truce Blinken is hoping to seal proposes a six-week pause to fighting as Hamas frees hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and more aid for Gaza, according to a Hamas source.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has faced divisions within his cabinet and public fury over the fate of the remaining hostages, said Israel "will not accept" demands Hamas has made for an exchange involving thousands of prisoners.