Hamas agrees to ceasefire proposal
Israel launches ‘targeted strikes’ against Rafah
HAMAS yesterday announced that it had accepted an EgyptianQatari proposal for a ceasefire to halt the seven-month war with Israel in Gaza.
The news came just hours after Israel ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern city of Rafah. The Israeli Defence Force said last night that it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in eastern Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that the country’s war cabinet decided to continue the campaign in Rafah, in an effort to pressure Hamas to release hostages.
His office said the ceasefire proposal was “far from Israel’s essential demands”, but it would send negotiators to continue talks.
A senior Palestinian official familiar with the ceasefire agreement said Hamas has agreed to end “hostile activity forever” if the conditions of the truce are met. The Reuters news agency reported a Hamas official said it includes a ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza, return of the displaced and a prisoner swap.
And in a statement, UN secretarygeneral Antonio Guterres called on Israel’s government and Hamas leadership “to go the extra mile” to come to an agreement. It also said the protection of civilians is “paramount in international humanitarian law”.
In recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials said the ceasefire would take place in stages during which Hamas would release hostages in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.
It is not clear whether the deal will meet Hamas’s key demand of bringing about an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal.
Hamas said in a statement that its top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had delivered the news in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence minister.
After the release of the statement, Palestinians erupted in cheers in the sprawling tent camps around Rafah, hoping the deal meant an Israeli attack had been averted.
Israel’s closest allies, including the US, have repeatedly said that Israel should not attack Rafah, and the prospect of an operation has raised global alarm over the fate of around 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.
Aid agencies have warned that an offensive would worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory.
US president Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu early yesterday and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah. He said a ceasefire is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson said.
Hamas and Qatar said invading Rafah would derail efforts by international mediators to broker a ceasefire. Netanyahu said yesterday that seizing Rafah, which Israel says is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, is vital to ensure the militants cannot rebuild their military capabilities and repeat the attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesperson, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. He said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.
Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area. UNRWA will not evacuate from Rafah so it can continue to provide aid to those who stay behind, said Scott Anderson, its director in Gaza.