Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal before announced offensive. Not acceptable, Israel replies.

The Israeli Defense Forces say they have begun an evacuation of Palestinian civilians from Rafah. Now Hamas says they agree to a ceasefire proposal. Israel does not, which threatens a bloody response.

The Islamist organization Hamas says on Monday evening that it has accepted a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The proposal has been put forward by brokers from Egypt and Qatar. But the proposal is not acceptable, says the response from Israel.

It goes further than Israel is willing to accept, an Israeli official told Reuters. Israel sees Hamas’s announcement as a ploy to make Israel seem like the party saying no to an agreement.

– There is only one answer to Hamas’ ploy: To immediately capture Rafah, increase the military pressure and continue to crush Hamas until they are completely defeated, says Israel’s security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the newspaper The Times of Israel.

Agreed to plan in three phases

Hamas leader Taher Al-Nono tells Reuters that they have agreed to several of the demands made to them. The agreement must include both a ceasefire, the reconstruction of Gaza and the handing over of hostages. They further say that they will “soon” send a delegation to Cairo to discuss the next steps in a possible agreement.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a Hamas source says that the group has received guarantees that Israel would not resume operations in the Gaza Strip after the agreement.

The proposal is also divided into three phases. Each of them should take 42 days, says a spokesperson in Hamas. The proposal would also mean that between 20 and 33 Israeli hostages would be released.

Israeli government officials say that Hamas’s proposal is not the same agreement that Israel and Egypt agreed on ten days ago. This is written by The Times of Israel, which quotes Channel 12.

According to the sources, it was this proposal that formed the basis for negotiations. They claim that more points have now been added.

The US State Department says in a statement that it will discuss Hamas’s ceasefire yes with its allies tonight. They believe a truce is “completely possible” to achieve.

Israeli attacks in Rafah – several countries warn

Earlier on Monday, there were reports of Israeli attacks in the evacuated area in Rafah. Several are worried about a possible ground invasion.

– Israel’s evacuation order for civilians in Rafah portends the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable. Israel must renounce the ground offensive. That’s what EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell writes on Monday.

At the same time, Israel and the Gaza Strip’s neighboring country, Egypt, says that the expected offensive is very risky. The country has increased the readiness of the military in northern Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip. This is what security sources say, according to Reuters.

Saudi Arabia warns Israel against entering Rafah in what it describes as a “bloody campaign”.

At 12:15, Reuters reported that Israel is attacking the evacuated area in Rafah. The information must come from Hamas-affiliated media. Details of the attacks are not known, but photos and video from the areas show bombings.

It comes after the Israeli military confirmed on Monday morning that they are “calling on residents of eastern parts of Rafah to move towards humanitarian areas.”

People in the area should have received messages on their phones on Monday morning to move west. There will be talk of the evacuation of around 100,000 people, according to Israeli military authorities.

About 1.1 million residents have fled from other places in the Gaza Strip to Rafah. The city is located in the very south of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt.

Sami Abu Zuhri tells Reuters that Israel’s evacuation announcement is a “dangerous escalation that will have consequences”. Zuhri is a senior member of Hamas.

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The borders of the Gaza Strip are closed, both to Israel and Egypt. The coastal areas towards the Mediterranean are under Israeli control and blocked off. Gaza’s 2.5 million people are therefore confined to 360 square kilometers and cannot flee to safe areas.

– Where should we go? We don’t know, says Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar (36) to the AFP news agency.

Jazar and his 12 family members live in the area that has been asked to evacuate. But the area they are asked to go to does not have room for his family, according to Jazar.

He also says that one of his family members is dependent on regular dialysis treatment.

– The evacuation area is far from hospitals and medical facilities. What shall we do now? Should we just watch her die, he asks.

Osama Al-Kahlout of the Palestinian Red Crescent says the area residents have been told to evacuate to already houses about 250,000 people.