24-hour ultimatum for Gaza truce
•Israeli deadline for Hamas to accept ceasefire plan •Netanyahu: Rafah attack will go ahead anyway •UN chief warns of offensive’s ‘devastating impact’ on Palestinians in Gaza and occupied West Bank
Israel issued a 24-hour ultimatum on Tuesday for a Hamas response to proposals for a 60-day truce in the Gaza war and the release of about 30 vulnerable Israeli hostages held by the militants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “will make a decision once Hamas provides their answer,” a senior Israeli official said. “We will wait for answers until Wednesday night and then decide.”
Hopes that a ceasefire agreement could be in sight have risen in recent days following a renewed push led by Egypt to revive stalled truce negotiations in Cairo.
But Netanyahu said on Tuesday that, with or without a deal, Israel would launch a ground offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, where up to 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Netanyahu said. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there, with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.” UN chief Antonio Guterres said an Israeli military assault on Rafah would be “an unbearable escalation, killing thousands more civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.”
An offensive “would have a devastating impact on Palestinians in Gaza, with serious repercussions on the occupied West Bank and across the wider region,” he said. “All members of the Security Council, and many other governments, have clearly expressed their opposition to such an operation. I appeal for all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to prevent it.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Israel for talks on Tuesday after high-level discussions in Riyadh, has said that the US would not support an attack on Rafah without a plan by Israel to protect Palestinian civilians. Blinken urged Hamas to accept the ceasefire proposal. “Now it’s on Hamas. No more delays, no more excuses. The time to act is now,” he said. “We want to see in the coming days this agreement coming together. “That is the best way, the most effective way, to relieve the suffering and also to create an environment in which we can hopefully move forward to something that is really sustainable and has lasting peace for the people who so desperately need it.”
However, there is little sign of agreement at the Cairo talks on the biggest point of contention — the Hamas demand that any deal must include a permanent withdrawal of Israeli troops.
“We can’t tell our people the occupation will stay … after Israel regains its prisoners,” a Palestinian official said. “Our people want this aggression to end.”