Hamas Warns There Will Be No Ceasefire Agreement If Israel Continues Aggression in Rafah

Antrean truk pengangkut bantuan di Rafah dari sisi Mesir. (Twitter/@ChinaAmbUN)

JAKARTA - Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned on Tuesday that there would be no ceasefire agreement if Israeli military aggression continued in Rafah.

Hamdan's comments came at a press conference in Beirut as a delegation from Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, arrived in Cairo from Doha to continue ceasefire talks, a statement from the group said yesterday.

"We emphasize that the military operation in Rafah, if carried out by Israel, will not be a picnic for the (Israeli) army," said Hamdan, reported by Reuters, May 8.

"The decision is in the hands of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu," he added, saying the latest ceasefire proposal agreed to by Hamas "represents a minimum effort to respond to the demands of the people and our resistance."

As previously reported, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a counterterrorism operation in the eastern part of Rafah City, Gaza Strip, on Monday evening local time.

Israel also claims to have taken control of the Rafah area which is the border between Gaza and Egypt. The attack on Rafah has long been planned by Israel, to hunt down the remaining battalions of the Hamas militant group which it claims are in the southern city of Gaza.

Israeli troops also seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza early Tuesday, blocking a vital aid route to the Palestinian territory already on the brink of famine.

"The Rafah crossing was and will remain a pure Egyptian-Palestinian crossing," stressed Hamdan.