War in Gaza: Israel attacks Rafah after Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal

Updated 8 hours ago

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced this Monday (6/5) that they are carrying out attacks against “specific targets” in the east of the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces guarantee that this is not a large-scale attack. In response, armed factions in Gaza fired rockets into southern Israel on Monday.

The attacks took place shortly after the Palestinian group Hamas indicated that it accepted the terms of a proposed ceasefire with Israel negotiated by the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

However, Israel rejected the proposal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the terms accepted by Hamas were far from corresponding to “Israel’s demands.”

Representatives from the Israeli government are expected to travel to Egypt this Tuesday (7) for a new round of negotiations.

Domestically, the Netanyahu government is under pressure to sign an agreement that allows the return of Israeli hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas.

There was a demonstration in Tel Aviv demanding the release of the hostages.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the ceasefire agreement says Hamas agreed to end “hostile activity forever” if the conditions of the truce were met.

According to Rushdi Abualouf, the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, the phrase suggests that Hamas may be contemplating an end to its armed struggle, although no further details were provided.

The agreement accepted by the group provides for a ceasefire in two phases, lasting 42 days each.

The first phase would include the release of female Israeli soldiers held hostage in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners each, including some serving life sentences.

During this period, Israeli troops would remain in Gaza — but within 11 days, after the ceasefire comes into effect, Israel must begin dismantling its military installations in the center of the Gaza Strip and must withdraw from the Salahuddin Road and of the Coastal Road.

After 11 days, Palestinians would be allowed to return to the north of the Gaza Strip.

The second phase would end with a “long sustainable period of calm” and the complete lifting of the blockade on Gaza, the BBC correspondent reports.

The Israeli army ordered Palestinians to abandon some areas east of the city of Rafah, in anticipation of a “limited” operation in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Around 100,000 people were directed this Monday to head to an “expanded humanitarian zone” in Khan Yunis and Al-Mawasi.

The United Nations (UN) and the United States warn that an attack on Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are taking refuge, could have catastrophic consequences.

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that the Israeli order represented “a dangerous escalation that will have consequences.”

Netanyahu has insisted for months that victory against Hamas cannot be achieved without a full-scale offensive in Rafah.

According to his government, the four remaining Hamas battalions, numbering thousands of fighters, are hiding there.

The head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, described Monday’s evacuation order as “unacceptable”.

“The EU, together with the international community, can and must act to avoid this scenario,” he wrote in X.

US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Netanyahu about Rafah on Monday.

Biden “reiterated his clear position” that he does not support an invasion of Rafah without a plan to help the civilians sheltering there.

According to the White House, Netanyahu “agreed to ensure that the Kerem Shalom border crossing is open for humanitarian aid to those in need.”

There, four Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday (05) in a Hamas rocket attack.

On Monday afternoon, Israel announced it was carrying out strikes on “specific targets” in Rafah, but gave no further details.