Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its "core demands" and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.
The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive — but only barely — for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the seven-month-long war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the wrangling was the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.
Hamas' abrupt acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians from eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, signaling an invasion was imminent.
Israel at War
Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment
Israel's War Cabinet decided to continue the Rafah operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said. At the same time, it said that while the proposal Hamas agreed to "is far from meeting Israel's core demands," it would send negotiators to Egypt to work on a deal.
The Israeli military said it was conducting "targeted strikes" against Hamas in eastern Rafah. Soon after, Israeli tanks entered Rafah, reaching as close as 200 meters from Rafah's crossing with neighboring Egypt, a Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited in scope. He and Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV said Israeli officials informed the Egyptians that the troops would withdraw after completing the operation. The Associated Press could not independently verify the scope of the operation.
Israeli airstrikes also hit elsewhere in Rafah late Monday, killing at least five people, including a child and a woman, hospital officials said. The Israeli military declined to comment.