Israel-Gaza war: Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal with IDF about to embark on brutal Rafah offensive

Hamas has said it has accepted a ceasefire proposal to halt the bloody seven-month Gaza war with Israel.

It issued a statement on Monday saying its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had delivered the news in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence minister, who have brokered the truce. The two Middle Eastern nations have been mediating months of talks between Israel and Hamas.

There was no immediate comment from Israel. It comes as the IDF is about to launch an offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian refugees have fled. Israel says Rafah is Hamas’s last stronghold.

The war was sparked after Hamas terrorists carried out a brutal attack on southern Israel on 7 October, murdering more than 1,000 Israelis and taking hundreds hostage. In response, Israel has launched an destructive offensive on Gaza, killing thousands and leaving buildings in rubble.

News of the Hamas announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets. Details of the proposal were not immediately released, but in recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the ceasefire would take place in stages in which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.

It is not clear whether the deal will meet Hamas’s key demand of bringing about an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal. Days earlier, Hamas had been discussing a US-backed proposal that reportedly raised the possibility of an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops in return for the release of all hostages held by the group. Israeli officials have rejected that trade-off, vowing to continue their campaign until Hamas is destroyed.

Earlier in the day, Rishi Sunak had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to go ahead with the attack on Rafah. “We are concerned deeply about the prospect of a military incursion into Rafah given the number of civilians that are sheltering there and the importance of that crossing for aid,” he said. President Joe Biden had spoken to Netanyahu earlier in the day about the offensive, reiterating US concerns.

He told the Israeli PM that a ceasefire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, according to White House officials. “The president reiterated his clear position on Rafah,” according to a White House summary of the call.

Aid agencies have warned that an offensive would worsen Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe and bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has killed 34,000 people and devastated the territory.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move from parts of Rafah to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi, a makeshift camp on the coast. He said Israel has expanded the size of the zone and that it included tents, food, water and field hospitals.

Around 450,000 displaced Palestinians are already sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been providing them with aid but conditions are squalid, with few toilets or sanitation facilities in the largely rural area.

The UN says an attack on Rafah could disrupt the distribution of aid keeping Palestinians alive across Gaza. The Rafah crossing into Egypt, a main entry point for aid to Gaza, lies in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open on Monday after the Israeli order. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, condemned the “forced, unlawful” evacuation order and the idea that people should go to Muwasi.

“The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,” he said, adding that an Israeli assault could lead to “the deadliest phase of this war”.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Gaza health officials. More than 80% of the population of 2.3 million have been driven from their homes, and hundreds of thousands in the north are on the brink of famine, according to the UN.

Additional reporting by AP.