Hamas says it has accepted a cease-fire proposal to halt its war with Israel.
The Palestinian militant group issued a statement accepting the Egyptian-Qatari proposal on Monday. Negotiators in Cairo had been trying to bring about a temporary halt in the fighting and the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
There has been no comment from Israel, which on Monday said people in eastern parts of Rafah should go to what the military called an expanded humanitarian area that now includes Khan Younis, in a move that comes ahead of a planned Israeli offensive in Rafah.
An IDF spokesperson, posting on social media in Arabic, said the Israeli military will act forcefully against terrorist organizations in Rafah, and that anyone who is in the area will be putting their lives at risk.
Israel is preparing a “limited scope operation” in Rafah, a military spokesperson said, and an estimated 100,000 people were being asked to leave the evacuation area.
Israel has previously issued such warnings amid its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip. Many of the Palestinians in Rafah traveled there seeking shelter after Israel warned them to flee other parts of Gaza.
Maps provided by the Israeli military previously showed a humanitarian zone along the Gaza coast west of Khan Younis. Monday’s announcement expanded that area both to the north along the coast, as well as east to include Khan Younis.
Israel has said an offensive in Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas, while the United States, United Nations and others have warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe if Israel carries out a large-scale attack in the area where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering.
The White House says President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
Reuters quoted a senior Hamas official calling the evacuation order for Rafah a “dangerous escalation that will have consequences.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin highlighted the issue again in a Sunday phone call with Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
A Pentagon statement said Austin “reaffirmed his commitment to the unconditional return of all hostages and stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid.”
Israel’s Defense Ministry said Gallant emphasized to Austin that military action was required in Rafah, and that there was no alternative.
The U.N. relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said on social media Monday that an Israeli operation in Rafah would bring “more civilian suffering and deaths,” and “devastating” consequences for more than 1 million people sheltering there.
UNRWA said it will “maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible and will continue providing lifesaving aid to people.”
Hezbollah rockets
The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group said Monday it fired dozens of rockets targeting an Israeli base in northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon that injured at least three people.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Israeli strike happened in Safri and targeted a factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The Israeli military said it targeted a Hezbollah military compound in the same area.
Israel also said its forces attacked Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have regularly exchanged cross-border fire since the Gaza war began in October.
The war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. About 100 of the hostages were freed in a weeklong truce in late November.
Israel’s ensuring counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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