Hamas agreement, public protests put pressure on Israel to reach ceasefire deal

After 24 hours of fastbreaking and often contra‐ dictory actions by both Hamas and Israel's govern‐ ment, a ceasefire in their catastrophic seven-month war still feels distant.

Yet a flurry of diplomatic activity could put the two sides closer to a deal than they've been in months.

When the news broke Monday afternoon that Hamas's leadership in Qatar had agreed to the terms of an Egyptian-brokered cease‐ fire, Israel's government ap‐ peared caught off-guard.

The immediate reaction from Israeli media commen‐ tators was that it was a "trap" - not a sincere gesture, but rather a ploy to shift the blame for the failure of a ceasefire onto Israel.

Hamas's negotiators had reportedly spent the day in Doha, Qatar, with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and the "deal" they accepted came out of those discus‐ sions - which didn't include Israel.

Unnamed senior Israeli government officials told Reuters the conditions pro‐ posed by Hamas were unac‐ ceptable in their current form.

WATCH | Doctor fears for Gaza's hospitals as Is‐ rael takes control of Rafah crossing:

It was unclear what the deal entailed until Tuesday morning, when several inter‐ national media outlets pub‐ lished details of what Hamas had reportedly agreed to. The terms included Israel ini‐ tially halting the war for 42 days, followed by the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees, along with free‐ dom for some of the hostages held in Gaza.

The number of hostages Hamas suggested it would release - 33 - is reportedly lower than the 40 Israel had demanded. The Palestinian militant group also proposed reaching that number by in‐ cluding the bodies of some of the hostages who have died while in captivity.

Hostages at heart of ceasefire discussion

It's unclear how many of the estimated 134 hostages are still alive, but in February, Is‐ rael said it believed at least 31 had perished after more than seven months of harsh conditions in captivity.

Last week, Hamas re‐ leased so-called proof of life videos for several hostages, including their heart-wrench‐ ing pleas for Israel's govern‐ ment to agree to Hamas's conditions for sending them home.

In response to Hamas's agreement to a supposed deal on Monday, Prime Min‐ ister Benjamin Netanyahu's office released a statement dismissing the move and vowing that its long-antici‐ pated invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah where more than 1.3 million people have sought shelter from the war - would pro‐ ceed.

The goal, said the state‐ ment, was "to exert military pressure on Hamas to ad‐ vance the release of our hostages."

The United Nations, the European Union and a multi‐ tude of human rights groups have warned that an Israeli invasion of the Rafah area will be a "bloodbath" and will tip the already dire hunger and humanitarian crisis in the territory into a cata‐ strophic new phase.

The United States - Israel's largest political and military benefactor - has also said it is opposed to Israel expanding the war into Rafah, and has reportedly held up a recent shipment of ammunition as a warning not to proceed.

But by Tuesday morning, video on social media showed an Israeli tank ploughing over a "Welcome to Gaza" sign at Rafah's bor‐ der with Egypt, and the Is‐ raeli Defence Forces released a statement saying Israel has now taken over full control of the key border crossing.

WATCH | Israel's military moves into Rafah:

Palestinian officials in Gaza said the closure of the border crossing will cause a major disruption for food and humanitarian supplies entering the territory. Aid agencies say the northern part of the enclave is already experiencing famine.

It's unclear, however, if the Israeli military action in Rafah represents the begin‐ ning of a large ground opera‐ tion or a more limited incur‐ sion designed to put political pressure on Hamas.

Protests against Ne‐ tanyahu

In a statement Tuesday,

Hamas accused Israel of try‐ ing to scuttle the ceasefire talks by moving on Rafah.

The families of the re‐ maining hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza desperately want their loved ones re‐ leased. Their nightly protests outside Benjamin Ne‐ tanyahu's residence and across Tel Aviv have grown increasingly aggressive and violent.

In a statement addressing the Netanyahu government, the families wrote: "At this crucial moment, while a tan‐ gible opportunity for the re‐ lease of the hostages is on the table, it is of the utmost importance that your govern‐ ment manifest its strong sup‐ port for such an agreement."

Alon Pinkas, a former se‐ nior Israeli diplomat, says Ne‐ tanyahu will have to choose between his own political survival by continuing the war against Hamas at the cost of the hostages or get‐ ting at least some of them back and risking the collapse of his coalition government.

"He is pressured by the public to do this deal," Pinkas told CBC News. "The counterpressure are the extreme right-wing coalition partners who want the war to go on, who think the operation in Gaza is more important than the lives of those hostages."

In Gaza, initial word of a possible ceasefire deal was met with widespread jubila‐ tion in Rafah, amid hope that an Israeli attack had been averted.

"We were wondering where we would go. We have no shelter or anywhere to go to, but thank God, I was hap‐ py to hear this news," Umm

Ahmed Al-Masry told a free‐ lance producer working for CBC News on Monday. "The feeling is indescribable."

The celebrations were short-lived, however, as Is‐ raeli flares soon lit up the sky and signalled that its military was once again on the move and the ceasefire would not happen.

'A glimmer of hope'

Israeli aircraft struck targets in the crowded city repeat‐ edly overnight, but it was not clear immediately how many were killed.

More than 34,000 Pales‐ tinians, most of them civil‐ ians, have been killed in the conflict, the Gaza Health Min‐ istry said.

"It's been terrifying and traumatic," said Louise Wa‐ teridge, a spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works

Agency (UNRWA), who is in Rafah.

"There was an hour of cel‐ ebration," she told CBC News, before it became clear a truce would not happen.

"This trauma has sent shockwaves in the commu‐ nity because there was so much hope and expectations of a potential ceasefire."

It does appear, however, that at the very least the ne‐ gotiations between Israel and Hamas, which had appeared to have collapsed, are now back on, with a mid-level Is‐ raeli team set to arrive in Cairo to assess the Hamas position.

Sharone Lifschitz, the daughter of one of the hostages, made a powerful statement on the BBC's To‐ day radio program on Tues‐ day.

"There's a glimmer of hope, and it feels that it's gone further than other rounds of negotiation, and that's good," she said. "But I'm not altogether hopeful. I think that there [are] extrem‐ ists on both sides that can derail [a deal]."

At a series of media brief‐ ings in Washington, D.C., on Monday, U.S. officials said they continue to believe a deal between Hamas and Is‐ rael is still possible and must be concluded.

Far harder to determine is how sincere the two sides are about getting a resolution or whether the talks are more about not wanting to be seen as the side that scut‐ tles them, said Pinkas, the Is‐ raeli political analyst.

"It's all been about a blame game," he said.