Hamas accepts ceasefire in Gaza; Israel says it will continue talks but continues to press ahead with attacks in Rafah

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hamas said Monday it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its core demands and was pushing forward an attack on the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. Still, Israel said it would continue negotiations.

The high-risk diplomatic moves and military risks offered a glimmer of hope, albeit narrowly, for a deal that could at least bring a pause to the seven-month-long war that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the dispute was the threat of a full-scale Israeli attack on Rafah, a move that the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians seeking refuge there.

Hamas’s abrupt acceptance of the ceasefire deal came hours after Israel ordered the evacuation of about 100,000 Palestinians from the eastern districts of Rafah, a sign that an invasion was imminent.

The Israeli military said it was carrying out “targeted attacks” against Hamas in eastern Rafah. Shortly thereafter, Israeli tanks entered Rafah and reached within 200 meters (yards) of Rafah’s border 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 speak to the media. The reported attack came a day after Hamas militants killed four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack that Israel said took place near the Rafah border crossing.

The Egyptian official said the operation appeared to be limited. 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.

Shortly after Hamas said it had accepted the ceasefire proposal between Egypt and Qatar, Israel’s War Cabinet decided to continue the Rafah operation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. It also said that the proposal, which Hamas had agreed to, was “far from meeting Israel’s core demands” but that it would send negotiators to Egypt to work on a deal. Late Monday, Qatar announced it would also send a team to Egypt.

President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and reiterated U.S. concerns about an invasion of Rafah. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American officials were “reviewing Hamas’ response and discussing it with our partners in the region.”

It was not immediately known whether the proposal that Hamas agreed to was significantly different from the one that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed to accept from the militant group last week, which Blinken said included significant concessions from Israel.

An American official said the U.S. was examining whether Hamas’s agreement was the version signed by Israel and international negotiators or something else.

Egyptian officials said the proposal calls for a multi-stage ceasefire, starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop withdrawals within the Gaza Strip. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full release of the hostages and a major Israeli withdrawal from the area, they said.

Hamas sought clearer guarantees on its central demand for an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal in return for the release of all hostages, but it was not clear whether any changes were made.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected that compromise and vowed to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

Netanyahu is under pressure from hardliners in his coalition who are calling for an attack on Rafah and could topple his government if he signs a deal. But he also faces pressure from the hostages’ families to reach an agreement for their release. They say time is running out to bring their loved ones home safely and that being on the ground would put them at greater risk.

Thousands of Israelis gathered across the country on Monday evening, demanding an immediate agreement. Around 1,000 demonstrators gathered near the defense headquarters in Tel Aviv. In Jerusalem, about 100 demonstrators marched toward Netanyahu’s residence with a banner reading “The blood is on your hands.”

Israel says Rafah is the last significant Hamas stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu said on Monday that the offensive against the city was crucial to ensure the militants cannot rebuild their military capabilities.

But he faces strong American resistance. Miller said Monday that the U.S. has seen no credible plan to protect Palestinian civilians. “We cannot support an operation in Rafah as currently planned,” he said.

The looming operation has raised alarm around the world. Aid groups have warned that an offensive will lead to a rise in more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed over 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also derail the Rafah-based humanitarian relief operation that is keeping Palestinians alive across the Gaza Strip, they say.

Israeli leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts urged Palestinians to evacuate the eastern districts of Rafah. They warned that an attack was imminent and anyone who stayed was “putting themselves and their family members at risk.”

The military urged people to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. It said Israel had expanded the zone to include tents, food, water and field hospitals.

However, it was not immediately clear whether this was already in place.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already housed in Muwasi. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it had provided them assistance. But conditions are deplorable as there are few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

The evacuation order left Palestinians in Rafah struggling with the renewed uprooting of their families and an unknown fate, exhausted after months of living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early Monday killed 22 people, including children and two toddlers.

Mohammed Jindiyah said he tried to survive under heavy bombardment at his home in northern Gaza early in the war before fleeing to Rafah.

This time he is complying with the Israeli evacuation order, but was unsure whether to move to Muwasi or elsewhere.

“We are twelve families and we don’t know where to go. “There is no safe area in Gaza,” he said.

Sahar Abu Nahel, who fled to Rafah with 20 family members, including her children and grandchildren, wiped tears from her cheeks and was distraught over the new move.

“I don’t have any money or anything. I’m really tired, as are the kids,” she said. “Perhaps it is more honorable for us to die. We will be humiliated.”

The war was sparked by the unprecedented raid into southern Israel on October 7, in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 250 hostages. After the exchange during a ceasefire in November, Hamas is believed to still be holding about 100 hostages, as well as the bodies of about 30 other hostages.

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Mroue reported from Beirut. AP journalists Samy Magdy and Lee Keath in Cairo and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.