Hamas accepts Gaza truce proposal as Israel prepares to invade Rafah

The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, informed Egypt and Qatar this Monday that the Islamist group has accepted his proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas made the announcement in a brief statement in which it offered no further details, after the Israeli army ordered some 100,000 Palestinians in eastern Rafah evacuate the town in the event of a possible ground assault.

“Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas movement’s political bureau, held a call with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel and informed them of the Hamas movement’s approval of its proposal on a ceasefire agreement”said the Palestinian group.

At the moment the details of the proposal are not known, nor the position of the Israeli authorities.

It appeared that indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip were at a standstill, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday refused to end the war, a key demand of the Islamist group.

This morning, in fact, thousands of Palestinians in the southern town of Rafah They received messages urging them to evacuate to the Khan Yunis area, raising alarms about the possibility that the Army would soon begin its announced ground invasion in southern Gaza.

The Islamist group today warned Israeli forces that any military operation in Rafah “it won’t be a picnic“, and that the armed wing of the group, the al Qasam Brigades, are prepared to “defend our people”.

Hamas also asked international organizations still operating in the enclave, and in particular the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), not to abandon it following Israeli evacuation orders.

Invasion

While everything stopped in Israel to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, the inhabitants of Rafahin the south of the Gaza Strip, faced evacuation orders from the Israeli Army today, in preparation for the feared ground incursion into the town, where more than a million displaced people live.

“(The Israeli Army) is about to operate forcefully against terrorist organizations in the area where you currently reside, as they have done so far. Anyone who remains in the area endangers themselves and their families. For your safety, evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi”says one of the messages received today by residents.

The Israeli authorities assured that this is a temporary and limited evacuation, and that it does not apply to the entire town, which borders Egypt and is a refuge for the majority of Gazans who have fled the fighting in other places in the Strip.

In addition, the Army said it has expanded the Al Mawasi humanitarian area, near the coast, where there are tents, field hospitals and food and medicine for the displaced.

However, the Government of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza warned that, for the moment, the response of citizens to evacuation orders is “limited”, and that vital institutions, such as the crossing to Egypt or the Abu Yusef al Nayar hospital, continue to operate.

“It won’t be a picnic.”

The Islamist group today warned Israeli forces that any military operation in Rafah “It will not be a picnic for the fascist occupation army“, and that the armed wing of the group, the al Qasam Brigades, are prepared to “defend our people”.

Hamas also asked international organizations still operating in the enclave, and in particular the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), not to abandon it following Israeli evacuation orders.

The agency, for its part, assured in a message that it will not comply with the orders. UNRWA “will maintain a presence in Rafah for as long as possible and continue to offer vital aid to the people” reads a post on his X account.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Monday called on Israel to exercise the “maximum moderation” and warned against a possible Israeli invasion of Rafah, which could blow up the already weakened negotiation process to reach a truce.

Remembering the Holocaust

Meanwhile, commemorative events took place in Israel to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

At 10:00 local time (07:00 GMT) alarms sounded throughout the country, and pedestrians and drivers stopped for two minutes. On the streets of west Jerusalem, some walkers stopped and raised Israeli flags.

In Tel Aviv, images were seen of cars stopped on the main highways, with drivers stopped next to their motionless vehicles.

Shortly after, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during an event in the Knesset (Parliament) that “The scale of the carnage in the Holocaust is unimaginable. It is equivalent to 5,000 ‘October 7’” in 2023, when Hamas attacked Israeli territory and caused the death of around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 200, an action that triggered the current war in Gaza.

Netanyahu assured that, although Hamas had the same intention of destroying the Jewish people as the Nazis when it carried out its attack, the existence of the Israeli Army prevented October 7 from being “a holocaust”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog recalled the horror of the Islamist attack during the annual ceremony in the Knesset, in which the names of the massacred Jews were read, and said that “the wounds are still open”.

“Our eyes saw things we never thought we would see again”said Hezog, who remembered the hostages still captive after seven months of war.

“The wounds of October 7 remain open in our hearts, we cry and cry, and we will not be able to remain silent while our brothers and sisters remain hostages”he added.

Evacuation order is “inhumane”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described Monday as “inhuman” Israel’s evacuation order for residents of the eastern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

“Its inhuman. It goes against the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and human rights law.”Volker Türk stated in a statement.

“Gazans continue to be hit by bombs, disease and even famine. And today, they are told they must move again“, when “Israeli military operations in Rafah intensify”he declared.

Israel on Monday ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinian families in eastern Rafah, a city against which the army is preparing a major offensive in its war against Hamas.

The High Commissioner considers “inconceivable to forcibly move hundreds of thousands of people from Rafah to areas that have already been devastated and where there are few shelters and virtually no access to the humanitarian aid necessary for their survival”.

“This will only expose them to more danger and misery.”he warned.

After seven months of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip “There is no place outside Rafah that has the infrastructure and resources necessary to accommodate the massive displacement of more than a million people.”, he indicated.

Israel promised to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza since 2007, author of an unprecedented attack on October 7 on its territory, which sparked the war.

Rafah, a city on the border with Egypt, became a gigantic refugee camp where, according to the UN, 1.2 million Palestinians live, most of them displaced.

With information from EFE and AFP