WASHINGTON (JTA) – Shortly after Hamas announced it had accepted the outline of a ceasefire agreement with Israel, Israel’s war cabinet unanimously voted to authorize an invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The announcement comes after months of speculation and negotiations, two milestones in a whirlwind day of diplomacy and war. As of Monday night Israeli time, both fighting and diplomacy were underway.
Israeli officials said the offer accepted by Hamas was different from what Israel had agreed to. The war cabinet said in a statement that the outline was “far from Israel’s necessary demands” but that indirect negotiations would continue to reach an “acceptable” agreement. The United States said it was reviewing the draft, but did not go into details and reiterated its opposition to Israel’s invasion of Rafah.
The attack on Rafah has begun. Earlier in the day, Israel told Palestinians in eastern Rafah to evacuate, and footage from the area showed large numbers of people fleeing on foot, along with footage of Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli government has argued for months that it needed to invade Rafah to eliminate the remaining Hamas battalions in the city. A statement from the War Cabinet said the military operation “will put military pressure on Hamas to free the hostages and advance the remaining war objectives.”
But the Biden administration and other international voices have opposed the invasion, as more than 1 million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah on the border with Egypt. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Israel has not yet fully outlined practical means to evacuate civilians from Rafah.
“We have been clear about our opposition to Rafah for some time and that is that we cannot support operations in Rafah as currently envisioned,” Miller said.
Miller was also the first Biden administration official to comment on Hamas’s acceptance of the ceasefire outline on Monday afternoon.
“We are currently evaluating that response and are in discussions with our partners in the region,” Miller said. He added that CIA Director William Burns, who has been traveling to the region, is in talks with the Israeli side to try to reach an agreement.
“We continue to believe that the hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people,” Miller said. “We will continue to work toward a ceasefire because it is in the best interest of the Palestinian people, will result in an immediate ceasefire, and will allow us to scale up humanitarian operations.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu faces pressure from the United States as well as from the families of the hostages and their supporters. They have started demonstrations across the country and have become a formidable political force.
“Hamas’ announcement must clear the way for the return of the 132 hostages held by Hamas for the past seven months,” the Hostage and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. “Now is the time for all involved to make good on their commitments and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all hostages.”
The Israeli military distributed leaflets over Rafah on Monday warning civilians to evacuate. “Anyone found in the vicinity of a terrorist organization puts themselves and their families at risk,” the leaflet said.
Late Monday after the war cabinet vote, the IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced that the IDF was “currently conducting targeted attacks against Hamas terrorist targets in eastern Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.”
The proposal accepted by Hamas was drafted in consultation with the United States by Egypt and Qatar, which act as mediators for indirect talks. A Hamas statement said that one of the terrorist organization’s political leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, had met with Qatari and Egyptian officials and “informed them that the Hamas movement has approved the proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement.”
The proposal would reportedly halt fighting for six weeks while exchanging at least 33 living Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. It will also accelerate aid entry into Gaza, which world health officials say faces the risk of starvation.
A key issue in the negotiations is whether the proposal would lead to a permanent ceasefire, which Hamas wants and Israel rejects. One of Israel’s stated objectives for the war was to destroy Hamas, which began the war on October 7 and killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 hostages. Gaza officials say Israel launched a counterattack on October 8, and more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since then. More than 260 Israeli soldiers were killed in the invasion.
