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Israeli forces bombarded Rafah in southern Gaza with tanks and artillery on Saturday, hours after US President Joe Biden said Israel was offering a new road map to a ceasefire complete.

Shortly after Biden's announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his country would continue the war until it achieved all of its goals.

He reiterated this position on Saturday, saying that “Israel's conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas's military and government capabilities, the release of all hostages and the guarantee that Gaza does not constitute no longer a threat to Israel.”

Hamas, meanwhile, said it “positively views” the Israeli plan presented by Biden.

In his first major speech outlining a possible end to the nearly eight-month-old war, the US president said Israel's three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all areas. populated areas of Gaza.

It would also see the “release of a number of hostages… in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate a lasting ceasefire – but the truce would continue as long as talks continue, Biden said.

The US leader urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer.

“It is time for this war to end and the next day to begin,” he said.

– Netanyahu proposed a 'safety net' –

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Friday to press the deal.

UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” that the latest developments “will lead to an agreement between the parties for a lasting peace,” said his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the offer “offers a glimpse of hope and a possible path out of the war stalemate”, while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said welcomed a “balanced and realistic” approach to ending the bloodshed.

Saudi Arabia stressed its “support for all efforts aimed at an immediate ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Indonesia, for its part, said it was ready to send “significant peacekeeping forces” and medical personnel to Gaza if a ceasefire was reached.

But Netanyahu took issue with Biden's presentation of what was on the table, insisting Friday that the transition from one stage to the next was “conditional” and designed to allow Israel to maintain its war objectives.

“The prime minister authorized the negotiating team to present a plan to achieve (the return of the hostages), while insisting that the war will only end when all its objectives are achieved,” the office said. Netanyahu.

“The exact scheme proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from one stage to another, allows Israel to maintain these principles.”

Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on October 7.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government “cannot ignore Biden's important speech” and should accept the proposed deal, pledging to support Netanyahu if his far-right coalition partners resign because of this agreement.

“I remind Netanyahu that he has our safety net in the event of a hostage deal,” Lapid said Saturday on the X social media platform.

– Intense bombings –

Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns about the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the town on the Egyptian border.

On Saturday, residents reported tank fire in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah, while witnesses in eastern and central Rafah described intense shelling.

“Since the beginning of the night until this morning, the aerial and artillery bombardments have not stopped for a single moment,” a resident of western Rafah told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“There are a number of (Israeli) snipers in high-rise buildings guarding all areas of Tal al-Sultan… which makes the situation very dangerous,” the resident added.

Bombings and shooting by the Israeli army also took place in Gaza City, in the north of the territory, noted an AFP journalist.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

Since then, a million people have fled the region, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said.

Israel's capture of the Rafah crossing further slowed sporadic aid deliveries to Gaza's 2.4 million residents and effectively closed the main exit point from the territory.

– 'Everything is ashes' –

Israel said last week that aid deliveries had been stepped up.

But Blinken acknowledged Friday that the humanitarian situation was “dire” despite U.S. efforts to provide more aid.

Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News newspaper said Cairo would hold a meeting with Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

The World Food Program said daily life had become “apocalyptic” in parts of southern Gaza.

The war in Gaza was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, which left 1,189 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli figures.

The militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, 37 of whom died according to the army.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,379 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry.

In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and the neighboring refugee camp, troops ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanun to evacuate in anticipation of an imminent assault.

The Israeli military said its troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparing for continued operations in the Gaza Strip.”

Jabalia shopkeeper Belal al-Kahlot said nothing was left of his store after the Israeli operation.

“Everything is in ashes,” he told AFP.