Israel begins to strike Rafah hours after Hamas accepts a Gaza ceasefire proposal

Palestinians hold leaflets dropped by Israeli planes calling on them to evacuate ahead of an Israeli military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip on May 6. Photo / AP

Israel began striking targets in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, its leaders said Monday (today NZT), hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal. Still, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would send negotiators to continue talks on the deal.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive - but only barely - for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the seven-month-long war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the wrangling was the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move that the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.

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

Palestinians flee from the eastern side of Rafah after the Israeli army orders them to evacuate ahead of a military operation. Photo / AP

Netanyahu’s office said that the proposal Hamas accepted was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” but that it would nonetheless send negotiators to continue talks on a deal.

At the same time, the Israeli military said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in eastern Rafah. The nature of the strikes was not immediately known, but the move may aim to keep the pressure of the Rafah threat on as talks continue.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah, telling him a ceasefire was the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages, according to a National Security Council spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the call before an official White House statement was released.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American officials were reviewing the Hamas response “and discussing it with our partners in the region”. An American official said the US was examining whether Hamas agreed to a version of the deal that had been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else.

Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a ceasefire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.

Hamas had been seeking clearer guarantees for its key demand of an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all its hostages, according to Egyptian officials. It was not immediately known if any changes were made.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that trade-off, vowing to keep up their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu said today that the offensive against the town was vital to ensuring the militants can’t rebuild their military capabilities.

But he faces strong American opposition. After the Israeli evacuation order was issued, Miller said the US has not seen a credible and implementable plan to protect Palestinian civilians.

“We cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned.”

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive will worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that in nearly seven months has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based out of Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say.

This satellite image shows Rafah in Gaza (centre). Egypt can be seen to the left, Israel to the bottom right corner. Photo / AP

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday called the evacuation order “inhumane”.

“Gazans continue to be hit with bombs, disease, and even famine. And today, they have been told that they must relocate yet again,” he said. “It will only expose them to more danger and misery.

Israeli military leaflets were dropped ordering evacuation from eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays “puts themselves and their family members in danger”. Text messages and radio broadcasts repeated the message.

The military told people to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. It said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

It wasn’t immediately clear, however, if that was already in place.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid. But conditions are squalid, with few bathrooms or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

After the evacuation order announcement Monday, Palestinians in Rafah wrestled with having to uproot their extended families once again for an unknown fate, exhausted after months living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Few who spoke to the Associated Press wanted to risk staying.

Palestinians flee from the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israeli army orders them to evacuate ahead of a military operation. Photo / AP

Israeli military leaflets were dropped with maps detailing a number of eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah to evacuate, warning that an attack was imminent and anyone who stays “puts themselves and their family members in danger”. Text messages and radio broadcasts repeated the message.

UNRWA won’t evacuate from Rafah so it can continue to provide aid to those who stay behind, said Scott Anderson, the agency’s director in Gaza.

“We will provide aid to people wherever they choose to be,” he told the AP.

- AP