Gaza – Israeli Army Radio reported on Tuesday that Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, despite the Palestinian faction movement announcing its approval of a proposal submitted by Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire in the Strip.
Israel said that the conditions contained in the proposed agreement did not meet its demands and went ahead with strikes in Rafah, with its intention to continue negotiations on the agreement.
The developments in the war, which has been going on for seven months, came at a time when Israeli forces were bombing Rafah by air and land. It ordered residents to evacuate parts of the city, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.
The faction movement said in a brief statement on Monday that the head of the Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, made “a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and with the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, Mr. Abbas Kamel, and informed them of the Hamas movement’s approval of their proposal regarding the ceasefire agreement.” .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later announced that the truce proposal did not meet Israel’s demands, but that it would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that a delegation from Doha will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and the faction movement.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the War Cabinet agreed to continue the operation in Rafah. While Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote on the X platform that Netanyahu risks undermining the ceasefire by bombing Rafah.
An Israeli official said that the proposal to which the faction movement announced its approval is a “watered-down” version of an Egyptian proposal that includes elements that Israel cannot accept.
“This appears to be a hoax aimed at making Israel appear to be the side that rejects the agreement,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Another official who was briefed on the proposal said that the faction movement agreed to a proposal submitted by Israel on April 27 that includes stages for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, with only minor changes that do not affect the main provisions of the proposal.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Washington will discuss the response to the factional movement with its allies in the coming hours and that the agreement “is very possible to reach.”
The Israeli military campaign has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The United Nations has warned that famine is imminent in the Strip.
Agencies
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2024-05-09 05:45:42
