Pressure mounts on Israel for Gaza ceasefire

TEL AVIV - Israel faced growing international pressure on Tuesday to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, as it planned an incursion into the southern Gaza city Rafah where more than a million Palestinians are trapped. 

CIA Director William Burns was due in Cairo on Tuesday for a new round of talks on a Qatari-mediated ceasefire that would temporarily halt fighting in exchange for Hamas freeing hostages. 

His planned visit comes after Washington and the United Nations warned Israel against carrying out a ground offensive into Rafah without a plan to protect civilians, who say they have nowhere left to go. 

"Wherever we go there's bombing, martyrs and wounded," said Iman Dergham, a displaced Palestinian woman. 

On a visit to the White House Monday, Jordan's King Abdullah II pushed for a full ceasefire to end the four-month-old war. 

"We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe," said the monarch whose country hosts a large number of Palestinian refugees. 

"We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting ceasefire now. This war must end."