Israel strikes Rafah targets as Hamas accepts a ceasefire proposal negotiated by Qatar and Egypt

Israel strikes Rafah targets as Hamas accepts a ceasefire proposal negotiated by Qatar and Egypt

with the latest on the statement issued in the last hour or two by the Hamas leader isma hania who says that Hamas accepts a ceasefire proposal that was put forward by Egyptian and Qatari mediators seeking to Halt the seven-month long war with Israel well exact details of that proposal aren’t clear if it does take effect it’s thought it will probably take effect in stages and include the release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks well the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now reacted to that announcement from Hamas and says that although the proposal is far from meeting Israel’s demands Israel is going to send a working delegation to negotiate further on that deal let’s get the latest from France 24’s Iris mclair who is standing by for us in Jerusalem um it was when we spoke about an hour and a half ago we didn’t have any reaction from Israel now we do we’ve got reaction from the Prime Minister we’ve also got reaction from the family members of those hostages still being uh held in Gaza by Hamas just tell us a bit more about what we’re hearing yes we have reaction also from the Israeli military what we heard from Israel’s prime minister uh is that it’s not exactly a response to the deal that Israel proposed on the other hand you know Israel didn’t send negotiators to Cairo and this was the finessed deal with um Qatari input Egyptian input Washington’s input uh and now um he is saying that Israel will send negotiators to Cairo and an an announcement that’s just in my hands there’s also saying that at the same time Israel will continue with its operation in Rafa or begin its military operation in Rafa would be a better way to put it and there is I understand a bombardment of Eastern Rafa the area from which civilians were told to leave this morning um evacuated or told that they should evacuate this morning uh that area is now currently being bombarded by Israeli military planes so that’s what we’re seeing uh RIT large in terms of an Israeli reaction from the families of the hostages they’ve been reiterating what they’ve been saying all along do not squander this opportunity it may be our last certainly to see some of the hostages come out alive uh there protests on the streets right now uh in Tel Aviv there are really there’s really heartfelt cries from these families saying just make this deal just make sure you get as many of our relatives out as you can yeah and I just want to pick up what you were saying about the situation in in in Rafa because of course lots of international concern about what happens in Rafa after all there are a million displaced Palestinians who are seeking shelter there earlier in the day uh President Biden picked up the telephone and spoke to Netanyahu prime minister Netanyahu and said you know we assume what he said in in previous conversations which is it would be a mistake uh to uh carry out an operation in Rafa um I mean just with the negotiations happening on the one hand in Cairo and what appears to be some sort of an escalation in Rafa with aerial bombardment I mean how do we reconcile these two uh sets of developments happening really simultaneously it is hard to reconcile isn’t it uh what the announcement of the Israeli cabinet said was that this would keep the pressure on Hamas but there are people here who say that it simply shows that there are certain elements inside this cabinet that don’t want a hostage deal that would come um as a result they don’t want the release of hostages as a result of a ceasefire deal they want to complete the military operation first and that’s always been the the tension inside Israel between the military the people who believe that a military operation in Rafa is what is necessary that Hamas must be eviscerated and between the other people including military people who say that can wait the hostages can’t wait and I guess what you’re seeing is um Benjamin Netanyahu trying to satisfy both camps or trying to have the cake and eat it too and hoping or believing that this will um influence Hamas to stick the course but of course there’s no guarantee of that you know it might just become a murkier war or a deeper War than we have seen so far in Raa okay well thank you very much indeed for bringing us all the latest on that uh Iris mcka in Jerusalem thank you

Israeli leaders approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces were striking targets in the area, officials announced Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal.Irris Makler reports from Jerusalem
#Israel #Gaza #Hamas

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