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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
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Israel says Rafah operations will go ahead as Hamas deal remains | |
‘far’ from meeting its demands | |
By Abeer Salman, Christian Edwards, Becky Anderson and Jeremy Diamond, | |
CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:13 PM EDT, Mon May 6, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Israel said the terms of a ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted on Monday | |
remained “far from” meeting its demands and warned its military | |
operations in Rafah would continue, even as it sent negotiators to talk | |
to mediators. | |
In a statement Monday, Hamas said the head of its political bureau, | |
Ismail Haniyeh, told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian | |
intelligence minister that the militant group had accepted their | |
proposals for a ceasefire and hostage deal. | |
Palestinians celebrated that statement in the streets of Gaza, while in | |
Tel Aviv, hostage families and their supporters implored Israel’s | |
leaders to accept the deal. | |
However, shortly afterwards, Israel said the terms Hamas had accepted | |
were still far from meeting its “requirements,” and reiterated its | |
commitment to an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying | |
its war cabinet had “unanimously decided” to continue with the | |
operation “to exert military pressure on Hamas.” It did agree, | |
though, to send a delegation to the mediators for further talks. | |
Later on Monday evening, the Israel Defense Forces said it was | |
“conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in | |
eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” Video and images obtained | |
by CNN showed multiple explosions in the Rafah area on Monday night. | |
CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid said Israeli | |
forces were going to take over the Palestinian side of the Rafah | |
crossing in the next few hours, citing two sources with direct | |
knowledge. | |
The news comes just hours after Israel Palestinians living in Rafah, a | |
city in southern Gaza, to “evacuate immediately.” | |
The order raised fears that Israel’s long-threatened assault on the | |
city could be imminent. More than 1 million Palestinians have fled to | |
Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel’s | |
destruction of much of the north of Gaza. | |
A source familiar with Israeli plans told CNN that a limited incursion | |
into Rafah was intended to keep pressure on Hamas to agree a deal that | |
would bring about a ceasefire and a hostage release. | |
US officials told CNN they are closely monitoring reports of� | |
explosions in Rafah, and have “real concerns” about the | |
situation that is unfolding, but do not believe that what is | |
happening now is the beginning of a major Israel military� | |
operation into southern Gaza. | |
The Biden administration remains opposed to Israel going into Rafah,� | |
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters. | |
No agreement | |
Ceasefire talks will continue on Tuesday, the Qatari Ministry of | |
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari early | |
on Tuesday local time. | |
The Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday morning to continue | |
indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas after Hamas sent a | |
response to mediators involved in the ceasefire proposal which “can | |
be described as positive,” he said. | |
The Qatari announcement comes amid international calls for an agreement | |
to be reached on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. UN | |
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on the Israeli | |
government and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire deal after the | |
announcement by Hamas. | |
A senior Israeli and a senior US official said that Hamas had agreed to | |
a framework proposal, which diverges from the one Israel had helped | |
craft with Egypt. The latest proposal calls for an end to the war, | |
which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said he | |
will not accept, the senior American official said. | |
According to a press release, Hamas said it would not back down from | |
its demands in the latest proposal, which include a “ceasefire, | |
complete withdrawal, dignified exchange, reconstruction, and lifting of | |
the blockade.” | |
Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said Monday there were | |
“significant gaps” between Israel and Hamas. “Despite this, we | |
continue to turn over every stone and a delegation will go to Cairo.” | |
The proposed agreement mediated by Qatar and Egypt that Hamas said it | |
would accept starts with the release of 33 Israeli hostages and | |
hundreds of Palestinian prisoners over 42 days and ends with the | |
rebuilding of Gaza amid “a period of sustainable calm,” according | |
to a document shared with CNN by a source in the region familiar with | |
negotiations. | |
The copy of the framework details that the agreement will be divided | |
into three-phases, each 42 days. It will also include an eventual full | |
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the second phase, according to the | |
document and Hamas senior official Khalil Al-Hayya, who spoke to Al | |
Jazeera. | |
The White House on Monday confirmed that there had “been a response | |
from Hamas” to a proposed hostage deal in Israel, and that US | |
President Joe Biden had been briefed on that response, but otherwise | |
declined to weigh in specifically on what a deal could entail. | |
Biden is “aware of where the situation and where the process is,” | |
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a press | |
briefing. CIA Director Bill Burns remains in the region “working in | |
real time on the ground,” Kirby added. | |
“We still believe that reaching an agreement is the absolute best | |
outcome not only for the hostages, but for the Palestinian people and | |
we’re not going to stop working to that outcome,” he said. | |
IDF operations ongoing | |
Asked whether Hamas’ acceptance of a deal could change Israel’s | |
plans for Rafah, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari | |
said the military would continue to operate in Gaza. He said operations | |
are ongoing, but that the IDF is making every effort in the | |
negotiations to bring the hostages home as “fast as possible.” | |
Netanyahu has come under fierce pressure from the more extreme wing of | |
his coalition not to accept the ceasefire proposal outlined last week, | |
and to focus instead on destroying Hamas in Rafah. | |
Orit Strook, Israel’s settlements minister and a member of the | |
far-right Religious Zionism party, said last week that accepting the | |
deal would “throw” Israel’s military progress “in the trash.” | |
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said Netanyahu | |
had “promised that Israel would enter Rafah, assured that the war | |
would not end, and pledged that there would be no reckless deal.” | |
But large parts of the Israeli public have demanded Netanyahu accept a | |
deal. Families and supporters of the hostages blocked the Ayalon | |
Highway in Tel Aviv last week, holding a banner reading: “Rafah or | |
the hostages – choose life.” | |
Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet but seen as a rival and | |
possible successor to Netanyahu, said the return of hostages was more | |
urgent that entering Rafah. | |
Responding to Monday’s announcement by Hamas, the Hostages Families | |
Forum said: “Now is the time for all that are involved, to fulfil | |
their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return | |
of all the hostages.” | |
This is a developing story and will be updated. | |
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