The Israeli war cabinet decided unanimously to proceed with the invasion of Rafah, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced late Monday, a few hours after the Resistance group Hamas informed mediators that it has agreed on a proposed ceasefire agreement.
Shortly following the statement, the Israeli occupation army announced launching heavy strikes targeting eastern Rafah, which included carpet bombing areas and launching flares in preparation for the ground attack.
Earlier, according to Netanyahu’s office, the ground offensive aims “to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims,” adding that the proposal agreed to by the Resistance is “far from Israel’s obligatory demands.”
Rafah is a small city bordering Egypt and is now considered to be one of the most densely populated regions in the world. Over 1.4 million Palestinians are currently sheltered in the city after they were forcibly displaced by occupation forces from other regions in Gaza.
Washington has repeatedly warned that it opposes an attack on Rafah, citing fears of high civilian casualties as pressure grows on President US Joe Biden inside the United States, especially amid ongoing university protests, as elections draw closer.
This also comes as the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced today that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza due to the Israeli genocidal war ongoing in 213 days has now reached 34,735 and those injured 78,108.
Commenting on Hamas’ approval of a deal, Channel 12 quoted Israeli officials as saying that “Israel” is now carefully evaluating the Hamas response and will issue orderly comments later this evening, claiming that “this is not the same proposal” for a deal that “Israel” and Egypt agreed upon 10 days ago, which should have served as the basis for the indirect negotiations since then.
“All kinds of clauses” have been inserted, the TV report said. These new clauses, among other issues, relate to the cardinal questions of if, how, and when the war would end, and what kind of guarantees are being offered to that effect.
However, commenting on the occupation’s claims, Reuters cited a US official familiar with the negotiations as saying, “Netanyahu and the war cabinet have not appeared to approach the latest phase of negotiations (with Hamas) in good faith.”
Earlier today, the occupation army launched a campaign to forcibly displace Palestinians residing in eastern Rafah, instructing using flyers and SMS messages the families to move toward the al-Mawasi area.
