Israel rejects Hamas’s truce proposal and goes ahead with the operation in Rafah

Israel rejects the ceasefire proposal in Gaza that Hamas announced earlier, saying that it does not meet its basic demands, and announced that it is advancing the process to Rafa.

From the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office Benjamin Netanyahu It became known that the War Council “unanimously decided that Israel will continue the operation in Rafah to put military pressure on Hamas so that we can achieve the release of our hostages and achieve the other objectives of the war.”

The Israeli army announced that its forces are currently carrying out strikes and operations against Hamas sites in a “targeted manner” in eastern Rafah.

The army says it will provide more information about the operation soon. https://t.co/UgvByaRVAH

– Emmanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

Meanwhile, the IDF announced that the IDF was operating against Hamas targets in a “targeted manner” east of Rafah.

The Israeli army announced that its forces are currently carrying out strikes and operations against Hamas sites in a “targeted manner” in eastern Rafah.

The army says it will provide more information about the operation soon. https://t.co/UgvByaRVAH

– Emmanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 6, 2024

The Israeli army is currently carrying out targeted strikes against Hamas terrorist targets east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/bmZgoNKXMB

– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 6, 2024

🚨Break: #Rafah A city in the south #Gaza The sector is under heavy Israeli bombardment now!! pic.twitter.com/XRYMBTdEsX

– Nour Naim| Nour (@NourNaim88) May 6, 2024

An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported that the Israeli army carried out heavy bombardment east of Rafah.

He explained that the strikes continued without interruption for thirty minutes, shortly before 22:00 Greek time.

This evening, the Israeli occupation army repeated the order it issued this morning to residents of eastern Rafah neighborhoods to leave, explaining that the evacuation is a prelude to a “ground” operation in the city, which has become a refuge for more than a million people. Palestinians in the besieged southern Gaza Strip.

Earlier, a senior Israeli official told Agence France-Presse that Israel is studying a ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip presented by Egypt and Qatar, which the Palestinian Hamas movement said it had accepted.

“We have received the proposal and are studying it. This is not the framework that we agreed upon. We are investigating the matter,” said the official, who requested anonymity. He did not clarify the content of the document.

Hamas proposal

The ceasefire proposal agreed to by Hamas is one of these proposals Three-stage agreementThe deputy head of the Palestinian Islamic Organization in Gaza told the Qatari Al Jazeera channel that each lasts 42 days.

Khalil Al-Hayya also said that the second phase of the agreement stipulates Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza.

White House reaction

The White House said it is reviewing the response of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to the proposed ceasefire and hostage release, as it continues to pressure Israel to stop plans for a ground invasion of Rafah.

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency William Burns White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US President is in the region and is discussing the proposal. He refused to go into details, saying he did not want to jeopardize any progress towards reaching an agreement.

“We want to ensure the release of these hostages, we want to ensure a six-week ceasefire, and we want to increase humanitarian aid,” Kirby said, adding that reaching an agreement would be “the best outcome ever.”

Earlier, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the United States is reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal and will discuss it with its allies in the Middle East in the coming hours.

He added, “I can confirm that Hamas gave an answer. We are reviewing this response now and discussing it with our partners in the region,” Miller said, stressing that the response was received in the past hour or 90 minutes, and that discussions will take place in the next few hours.

CIA Director Bill Burns is in the area “working on this in real time,” Miller said.

Hamas’ announcement came hours after Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of the city of Rafah, located on the southern end of the Gaza Strip, which is the last refuge for about half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people.

This appears to be a sign that the Rafah operation will go ahead, despite repeated warnings from Washington, including one from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a visit to Israel last week, where he also focused on increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Miller reiterated that the United States cannot support an operation in Rafah “as Israel currently envisions.”

“The operation in Rafah will make it difficult to maintain the increase in humanitarian aid that we have been able to distribute over the past few weeks,” Miller said.

Erdogan calls on Israel to accept Hamas’ proposal

Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Israel to accept the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza after the positive response from Hamas. He also said that Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal at Türkiye’s request.

He added, “We are pleased that Hamas announced that it had accepted a ceasefire based on our request. Now Israel must take the same step.” The Turkish president said in his statements after the cabinet meeting in Ankara: “I call on all Western parties to put pressure on the Israeli government.”

Before the cabinet meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a phone call with the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.