(Reuters) – Below are updates on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East:
7.30 – Yesterday Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal in Gaza from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and continued with attacks on Rafah, while it plans to continue negotiations for a agreement.
The latest developments in the seven-month war come after Israeli forces struck Rafah, on Gaza’s southern outskirts, from the air and on the ground, and ordered residents to leave parts of the city, which has become the refuge of more than a million displaced Palestinians.
Hamas said in a brief statement that leader Ismail Haniyeh informed mediators from Qatar and Egypt that the group had accepted their ceasefire proposal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the truce proposal did not meet Israel’s demands, but that the country would send a delegation to meet negotiators and try to reach an agreement.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said its delegation would travel to Cairo later today to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office added that his war cabinet had approved the continuation of the operation in Rafah. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi wrote in X that by bombing Rafah, Netanyahu is jeopardizing the ceasefire.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal approved by Hamas was a watered-down version of an Egyptian offer and included elements Israel could not accept.
“This would appear to be a ploy to make Israel appear to be the party rejecting a deal,” the Israeli official said.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington would discuss Hamas’ response with its allies in the coming hours and that an agreement was “absolutely achievable”.
(Translated by the Gdansk editorial team, editing by the Milan/Rome editorial team)
