Hamas Agrees to Ceasefire Proposal, Israel Says It's Not Enough and Will Continue Attacking Rafah While Negotiating

The Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - The Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday reportedly agreed to a ceasefire proposal in Gaza from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and continued attacks on Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on the deal.

In a short statement, Hamas said its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had told Qatari and Egyptian mediators the group accepted their ceasefire proposal.

Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and Haniyeh adviser, told Reuters the proposal met the group's demands for reconstruction efforts in Gaza, the repatriation of displaced Palestinians and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, as quoted on May 7.

Meanwhile, Hamas Deputy Chairman in Gaza Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera television that the proposal consisted of three stages, each lasting six weeks, with Israel to withdraw its troops from Gaza in the second stage.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later said Hamas' latest ceasefire proposal did not meet Israel's demands, but that it would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.

In a statement, Netanyahu's office added that his war cabinet had approved the continuation of operations in Rafah.

“The war cabinet unanimously decided that Israel is continuing operations in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas to speed up the release of our hostages and other war objectives,” the statement said.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the proposal Hamas accepted was a more modest version of Egypt's offer and included elements that Israel could not accept.

“This appears to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like a party that rejects the deal,” said the Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

But an official briefed on the peace talks, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the offer Hamas accepted was basically the same as the one Israel agreed to in late April.

Separately, a US official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations told Reuters that PM Netanyahu and the war cabinet "do not appear to be approaching the final stages of negotiations in good faith."

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington would discuss Hamas's response with its allies in the coming hours, and an agreement was "achievable".

"We want to free the hostages, we want a six-week ceasefire, we want to increase humanitarian assistance," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, adding reaching a deal would be the "best outcome".

If a deal is reached, it would be the first lull in fighting since a week-long truce in November, during which Hamas freed about half its hostages.

Since then, all attempts to reach a new ceasefire have failed due to Hamas' refusal to release more hostages without a promise to end the conflict permanently, and Israel's insistence that it will only discuss a temporary pause.

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas launched an attack on Israel's southern region on October 7. Israel said this resulted in around 1,200 people being killed and 252 others being kidnapped, of which 133 are believed to still be in Gaza.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the number of Palestinians killed in the enclave due to Israeli attacks had increased to 34,735 and 78,108 others were injured.