Middle East war
Hamas agrees to ceasefire proposal – Israel continues attacks on Rafah
Khan Yunis in ruins. Will the people of the Gaza Strip soon be able to live without bloody fighting?
© Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
Will the weapons in the Gaza Strip soon fall silent? Hamas has agreed to a proposal for a ceasefire. Israel, however, replies that it contains conclusions that it does not agree with – and continues the air strikes on Rafah.
The radical Islamic group Hamas says it has agreed to a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniya, informed both mediators that Hamas accepted their proposal for a ceasefire agreement, the Palestinian organization said on Monday. Israel said it was studying the proposal. The Israeli army reiterated a call to evacuate the eastern part of the city of Rafah and carried out massive air strikes there.
“We are also calling on residents to evacuate this evening,” said army spokesman Daniel Hagari on the radio. The Israeli Air Force struck more than 50 “terrorist targets” in the Rafah area during the day, he added. The evacuation of the city in the southern Gaza Strip serves to prepare for a “ground operation”.
Ceasefire plan calls for three stages over 42 days
Hamas said on its website that Haniya had spoken by telephone with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hajja said the agreed proposal calls for a three-stage ceasefire with the aim of a permanent ceasefire.
Al-Hajja told Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera that each of the three phases would last 42 days. The agreement also contains plans for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of Palestinians displaced by the ongoing war and an exchange of hostages and prisoners.
A high-ranking representative of the Palestinian organization said it was now up to Israel. “After Hamas agreed to the mediators’ proposal for a ceasefire, it is now up to the Israeli occupying power whether it agrees to the agreement or obstructs it,” the Hamas representative, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP.
Israel is considering the proposal
For his part, a senior Israeli official said the government was studying the proposal. “We have received the proposal and are studying it,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP, adding that the proposal was not within the agreed framework.
The US government says it is examining Hamas’ response to the proposal. “We are now reviewing this response and discussing it with our partners in the region,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
According to an AFP reporter on the ground, people in the Gaza Strip celebrated Hamas’s approval of the agreement on Monday evening. In the streets of Rafah, people shouted slogans, cried tears of joy and fired shots into the air.
Shortly afterwards, fierce attacks were launched on the city. Over the past half hour, the attacks have been “practically non-stop,” said an AFP correspondent in Rafah shortly before 10 p.m. (local time, 9 p.m. CEST).
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have been going on for months
Negotiations on a new ceasefire and the release of additional Hamas hostages with the mediation of the USA, Qatar and Egypt have been going on for months and are proving difficult.
On Monday morning, the Israeli army called on residents in the east of Rafah to evacuate. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, “thousands” of people have already left the area. The Israeli government recently confirmed that it wanted to implement a planned ground offensive in Rafah despite strong international criticism. She describes the city as the last remaining stronghold of Hamas.
In Rafah, around 1.2 million people have sought refuge from the fighting between Israel’s army and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented major attack on Israel on October 7th. According to Israeli information, around 1,170 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. The subsequent Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have now killed more than 34,700 people, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified.