Unhappy with terms of truce accepted by Hamas, Israel strikes Rafah

The Israeli military said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in Rafah even as the Palestinian militant group said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to end the dragging Gaza war.

Soon after the military statement, Israeli tanks entered an area as close as 200 meters from Rafah’s crossing with neighbouring Egypt despite warnings from the US that an Israeli assault can cause massive casualties.

Hamas attack

Israeli military leaflets were dropped with maps detailing a number of eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah to evacuate, warning that an attack was imminent, media reports said.

The reported Israeli incursion came a day after the Hamas killed four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack that Israel said originated near the Rafah crossing.

Evacuation ordered

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli army spokesman, 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.

Israel to talk

Although unhappy with the truce proposal the Hamas has embraced, Israel kept a glimmer of hope alive by saying it will continue negotiations to end the war that has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza since October.

Egyptian officials said the ceasefire proposal called for a truce of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and a partial Israeli troop pullback within Gaza, the Associated Press reported.

Unhappy with deal

Israel and Hamas would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of Gaza, the officials said.

But Israel has vowed that it will not halt its military offensive, which began after a cross-border raid in which Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and seized hundreds, until the Palestinian group is destroyed.

Israel also say the deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar did not meet its core demands.

Targeted strikes

Hamas’s abrupt acceptance of the ceasefire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, signalling an imminent invasion.

The Israeli military said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in eastern Rafah.

Israeli airstrikes also hit elsewhere in Rafah late Monday, killing at least five people, including a child and a woman, hospital officials said. Israel said 20 Hamas militants were killed in the operation and it discovered three tunnel shafts.

Netanyahu’s dilemma

Shortly after Hamas said it had accepted the truce proposal, Israel’s War Cabinet decided to continue the Rafah operation.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hard-line partners in his coalition who insist on an attack on Rafah. They also oppose a deal with the Hamas.

At the same time, the prime minister is being told by the families of those taken hostage by the Hamas to reach a deal for their release.

Gaza celebrations

Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country on Monday night calling for an immediate agreement.

Palestinians in Rafah erupted in cheers after the Hamas announcement, hoping it meant the Israeli military invasion would be averted.

Netanyahu said on Monday that seizing Rafah, which Israel says is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, was vital to ensuring the militants can't rebuild their military capabilities and repeat the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Gaza warnings

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive will worsen Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths.

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

“I have no money or anything. I am seriously tired, as are the children,” she told the AP. “Maybe it's more honourable for us to die. We are being humiliated.”

(With agency inputs)