The War Cabinet unanimously decided that Israel would continue the operation in Rafah to apply military pressure on Hamas to promote the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war,” read a statement from the office of PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
“At the same time, although Hamas’s proposal is far from Israel’s requirements, Israel will send a delegation of mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under terms acceptable to Israel.”
Senior Israeli officials claimed to Ynet on Monday night that “the Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal accepted by Hamas had no input from Israel and was not acceptable.”
The officials called it “an exercise and a unilateral proposal without Israeli involvement.”
An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Telegraph: “Hamas’s acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari peace deal is a “ruse” designed to make Israel look like it is obstructing peace.”
Earlier in the evening, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Political Bureau of Hamas informed in phone calls to the Head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel and Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani that the movement has accepted their proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
On Monday morning, Israel ordered the evacuation of civilians from eastern Rafah before carpet bombing whole residential blocks in the area ahead of an imminent ground invasion of the southernmost city in the strip where 1.5 million residents and displaced Palestinians have been sheltering from Israeli bombing since 7 October.
The evacuation and bombing sent thousands of panicked Palestinians fleeing for their lives out of eastern Rafah.
Shortly after the Israeli army spokesperson announced the start of the tank attack on Rafah, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said: “Israel’s maneuvers despite Hamas acceptance of the Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire offer indicate its ill intentions.”
“I call on the Security Council, especially the United States and Western countries supporting Israel, to bear their responsibilities and restrain the occupation forces to prevent further escalation as it is the Palestinian civilians who pay the price,” Aboul-Gheit wrote on his X account.
Earlier in the day, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday warned of the dangers of a possible Israeli military operation in the Palestinian Rafah area in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The foreign ministry said any such military operation would pose significant humanitarian risks and threaten more than a million Palestinians in that area.
Egypt called on Israel to exercise the utmost restraint and avoid further escalation at this sensitive time during ceasefire negotiations, and to stop the shedding of Palestinian civilian blood who have been facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
The statement reaffirmed Egypt’s continued communication around the clock with all parties to prevent the situation from worsening or spiraling out of control.
Terms of a deal
On Monday evening, shortly before the start of the Israeli tank movement into Rafah, Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy head of the Hamas Political Bureau, revealed to Al Jazeera details of the ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar and accepted by the movement.
The proposal presented to us by Egyptian and Qatari mediators includes three stages each stage lasting 42 days, Al-Hayya, who is based in Doha, explained to Al Jazeera.
Al-Hayya said the text of the ceasefire proposal includes the interconnectedness of the three stages of implementation.
The mediators told us that the US President has committed clearly to guaranteeing the agreement’s implementation.
Shortly after Haniyeh’s announcement, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed that the US has received a response from Hamas on ceasefire-for-hostages in Gaza and will be reviewing that response with its partners Egypt and Qatar and discussing it with Israel.