Israel-Hamas war: Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal between Egypt and Qatar

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas said Monday it had accepted a proposal for an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it was continuing an attack over the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military mismanagement left alive a glimmer of hope — but only just — for an agreement that could at least bring a pause to the fighting. 7 month old war That has the Gaza Strip destroyed. Hanging over the fray was the threat of an all-out Israeli attack on RafahA measure that the United States strongly opposes and which aid organizations say will be disastrous for the approximately 1.4 million Palestinians who seek refuge there.

Hamas’s abrupt acceptance of the ceasefire came hours after Israel ordered the evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods, signaling that an invasion was imminent.

The Israeli army said it was carrying out “targeted attacks” against Hamas in eastern Rafah. Shortly afterwards, Israeli tanks entered Rafah, within 200 meters of Rafah’s border crossing with neighboring Egypt, a Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The reported raid came a day after Hamas militants killed four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack that Israel said took place near the Rafah border crossing.

The Egyptian official said the operation appeared limited. The Associated Press could not independently verify the extent of the operation.

Israeli airstrikes also took place elsewhere in Rafah late Monday, killing at least five people, including a child and a woman, hospital officials said.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Shortly after Hamas said it had accepted the ceasefire proposal between Egypt and Qatar, Israel’s war cabinet decided to continue the operation in Rafah. Benjamin Netanyahu the office said. It also said that while the proposal Hamas agreed to was “far from meeting Israel’s core demands,” it would send negotiators to Egypt to work on a deal. Late on Monday, Qatar announced that it would also send a team to Egypt.

President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said U.S. officials were assessing Hamas’ response “and discussing it with our partners in the region.”

It was not immediately known whether the proposal Hamas agreed to was substantially different from the one that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the militant group to make last week, which Blinken said included significant Israeli concessions.

A US official said the US was investigating whether what Hamas agreed to was the version signed by Israel and international negotiators, or something else.

Egyptian officials said the proposal called for a ceasefire of several phases starting with a limited release of hostages and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent peace” that would lead to a full release of hostages and a greater Israeli withdrawal from the area, they said.

Hamas sought clearer guarantees for its main demand of an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal in exchange for the release of all hostages, but it was not clear if any changes had been made.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected this trade-off and vowed to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hardline partners in his coalition who demand an attack on Rafah and could topple his government if he signs a deal. But he also faces pressure from the hostages’ families to reach an agreement for their release. They say time is running out to get their loved ones home safely, and that a ground operation would further endanger them.

Thousands of Israelis gathered across the country on Monday evening calling for an immediate agreement. About a thousand demonstrators gathered near the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv. In Jerusalem, about 100 protesters marched to Netanyahu’s home with a banner that read: “The blood is on your hands.”

Israel says Rafah is the last significant one Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu said on Monday that the offensive against the city was crucial to ensure that the militants cannot rebuild their military capabilities.

But he faces strong American opposition. Miller said Monday that the US has seen no credible plan to protect Palestinian civilians. “We cannot support an operation in Rafah as currently proposed,” he said.

The impending operation has raised global alarm. Aid groups have warned that an offensive will lead to more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed more than 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also devastate the humanitarian aid operation from Rafah that is keeping Palestinians alive in the Gaza Strip, they say.

Israeli leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts ordered Palestinians to evacuate Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods, warning that an attack was imminent and that anyone who remains would “endanger themselves and their family members.”

The army told people to move to a humanitarian zone declared by Israel Muwasi, an improvised camp on the coast. It said Israel has expanded the size of the zone to include tents, food, water and field hospitals.

However, it was not immediately clear whether this was already present.

About 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it had provided assistance to them. But conditions are dire, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

The evacuation order left Palestinians in Rafah grappling with having to uproot their families again to an unknown fate, exhausted after months of living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah killed 22 people on Monday morning, including children and two babies.

Mohammed Jindiyah said he tried to hold out under heavy bombardment at his home in northern Gaza at the start of the war before fleeing to Rafah.

He complied with Israel’s evacuation order this time, but was unsure whether to move to Muwasi or elsewhere.

“We are twelve families and we don’t know where to go. There is no safe area in Gaza,” he said.

Sahar Abu Nahel, who fled to Rafah with 20 family members, including her children and grandchildren, wiped tears from her cheeks and despaired of a new move.

“I don’t have any money or anything. I am seriously tired, and so are the children,” she said. ‘Perhaps it is more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated.”

The war was sparked by the unprecedented attack on October 7 in southern Israel during which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 hostages. Following exchanges during a ceasefire in November, Hamas is believed to still hold about 100 Israelis, as well as the bodies of about 30 others.

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Mroue reported from Beirut. Samy Magdy and Lee Keath in Cairo and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.