Israel launches air strikes on Rafah despite Hamas accepting ceasefire proposal. Source: UN Photo.
Hamas has agreed to a proposal for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, but Israel said the terms were far from acceptable and fired strikes on Rafah overnight.
The proposal was put forward and mediated by Qatar and Egypt on Monday 6 May shortly after Israeli military warned Palestinians in eastern Rafah to evacuate to “an expanded humanitarian area” on the coast.
The proposal involved three stages that would see the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians, and a hostage exchange.
This is the first ceasefire proposal Hamas has agreed to since the temporary ceasefire that took place in November last year.
Celebrations erupted across the Gaza strip as crowds cheered in chants of “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”).
The celebrations were short-lived as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement that said Hamas’ proposal was “far from Israel’s essential demands” and planned to continue its operations in Rafah.
Israel also confirmed it would send a delegation to Cairo to continue negotiation talks.
Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said, “There has been an escalation of air raids and artillery bombardment in the eastern part of Rafah.
“We’re talking nonstop bombing of residential houses. The vast majority of residents there have started to flee the area where the Israeli military is trying to mobilise more troops.”
Rafah is currently holding more than 1 million displaced Palestinians civilians who escaped from parts of Gaza in the seven-month war.
Since March, Israel war planes have hit Rafah almost daily, killing nearly 300 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 34,735 people (including more than 14,500 children) and wounded 78,108 since 7 October.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesperson said that invading Rafah would be the beginning of the “greatest crime of genocide” by the “occupation authorities [Israel]”.
“The American administration, which provides financial and military support to the occupation and stands against the international community to prevent the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions and the cessation of aggression, is the [one] that encourages Netanyahu and his leaders to continue their massacres against the Palestinian people,” he continued in a statement.
World leaders, including Jordon, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, and the US have expressed their oppositions to the planned Israeli attack on Rafah and the urgent need for humanitarian aid.
They all agree that an offensive on Rafah will result in “mass” and “catastrophic” atrocities.
Negotiations between Hamas and Israel have stalled after the strike.
