Israel launches Rafah assault, says ceasefire talks to continue

Hamas's acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of Palestinians from eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, signaling an invasion was imminent.

Israel began striking targets in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, its leaders said Monday, hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal. Still, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would send negotiators to continue talks on the deal.

The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive — but only barely — for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old conflict that has devastated the Gaza Strip. Hanging over the wrangling was the threat of an all-out Israeli assault on Rafah, a move that the United States strongly opposes and that aid groups warn will be disastrous for some 1.4 million Palestinians taking refuge there.

Hamas’s abrupt acceptance of the cease-fire deal came hours after Israel ordered an evacuation of Palestinians from eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, signaling an invasion was imminent.

Netanyahu’s office said that the proposal Hamas accepted was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” but that it would nonetheless send negotiators to continue talks on a deal.

At the same time, the Israeli military said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in eastern Rafah. The nature of the strikes was not immediately known, but the move may aim to keep the pressure of the Rafah threat on as talks continue.

President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated U.S. concerns about an invasion of Rafah, telling him a cease-fire was the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages, according to a National Security Council spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the call before an official White House statement was released.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American officials were reviewing the Hamas response “and discussing it with our partners in the region.” An American official said the U.S. was examining whether Hamas agreed to a version of the deal that had been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else.

Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and partial Israeli troop pullbacks within Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal out of the territory, they said.