The short version
- Israel said no to the ceasefire proposal which Hamas accepted
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced continued ground operations in Rafah
- The Israeli military (IDF) is carrying out targeted attacks against Hamas targets in Rafah
- The families of the hostages demand that Israel reach an agreement
- Palestinians ordered to evacuate ahead of expected military action
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The joy was short-lived for residents of the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced just after 9pm on Monday evening that the war cabinet has decided to continue the planned ground operation in Rafah.
– The War Cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel will continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas to force the release of our hostages, destroy Hamas’ military and governance capabilities, and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future, it says in the statement from his office.
Also read: Hamas has reportedly accepted a ceasefire proposal
– At the same time, even if the proposal from Hamas is far from Israel’s basic demands, Israel will send a delegation to the mediators to explore the possibilities of reaching an agreement that is acceptable to Israel.
Around the same time on Monday evening, the Israeli military (IDF) reports on X that its forces are now carrying out attacks in Rafah.
– The IDF is now carrying out targeted attacks against Hamas targets in eastern Rafah, southern Gaza, they write.
Attacks were carried out east of Rafah also earlier on Monday.
The Egyptian human rights group Sinai for Human Rights writes on X night of Tuesday that you can hear the sound of gunfire inside Rafah from the Egyptian side of the border.
Demonstrations in Tel Aviv
The families of the hostages that Hamas took during the terrorist attack on 7 October have been demonstrating against the Israeli authorities for a long time, demanding that the hostages be returned home.
Among those who have taken to the streets on Monday evening is Einav Zangauker, the mother of kidnapped Matan Zangauker. In a televised interview with Channel 12, she thundered against Netanyahu, according to Al-Jazeera.
She says that she will get everyone out on the streets if the government and the prime minister miss this chance. She fears this is the last chance she and the other families have to get their loved ones home.
– The streets will burn, the country will burn. You can’t play with people’s lives like this, she says.
She is not alone. The families of several of the hostages held in Gaza are demanding that Israel agree to the cease-fire proposal that Hamas has already accepted.
– The announcement from Hamas must pave the way for the hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for the past seven months to return home, says the organization for the hostages’ relatives in a statement.
– The time has come for all those involved to fulfill their obligations and use this opportunity to reach an agreement on the release of the hostages, it continues.
This shall be the agreement:
According to Reuters, these must be parts of the content of the plan that Hamas has agreed to.
Phase 1:
- 42-day ceasefire
- Hamas releases 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons
- Israel implements a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and allows free movement of Palestinians from southern to northern Gaza
Phase 2:
- New period of 42-day ceasefire
- The vast majority of Israeli soldiers are withdrawn from the Gaza Strip
- Hamas releases Israeli reservists and some soldiers held hostage in exchange for Israel releasing more Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails
Phase 3:
- Exchange of dead hostages and Palestinian prisoners
- Implement the reconstruction plans overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United States
- Ending the complete blockade of the Gaza Strip
Source: NTB
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Orders evacuation
On Monday morning, the Israeli Defense Forces announced that they were to evacuate 100,000 Palestinian civilians from Rafah before the expected military action.
Among other things, leaflets were sent out with orders to evacuate.
– We have no other choice but to start the invasion of Rafah, said Gallant, who justified it by saying that Hamas refuses to hand over hostages.
Over a million Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah as a result of the war that has raged in the Palestinian area since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel last October.
They are ordered to go to a so-called “expanded humanitarian area” in Khan Younis and al-Mawasi. Israel has not set a time frame for the evacuation.
Agreed to ceasefire proposal
It was at 18:30 on Monday evening that Hamas announced that they agreed to a ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt and Qatar.
One of the advisers to the political leader of the Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, Taher Al-Nono, told the Reuters news agency that the agreement included, among other things, a ceasefire, reconstruction, the return of displaced people and a prisoner exchange.
Also read: Cynical game about truce
Their delegation will visit Cairo soon to discuss the agreement and the next steps, Al-Nono further stated.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also says in a statement on Monday evening that its negotiating team will return to the negotiating table in Cairo on Tuesday. They refer to Hamas’ attitudes to the proposal for an agreement as “positive”.
However, Israeli sources were quick to say that the ceasefire proposal was not acceptable to Israel.
Among other things, it was claimed that the proposal appeared as an attempt to make it look like Israel is refusing to agree to an agreement.
