Israel rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas on Monday night, vowing to continue with its invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah and saying a last-minute proposal had failed to meet its key demands.
Hamas officials said on Monday that they had agreed to a ceasefire deal mediated by Egypt and Qatar that would see it release hostages in exchange for the end of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
But Israel said the terms of the deal were “far from” its “obligatory demands” and that it would continue with a planned ground invasion of Rafah “in order to apply military pressure to Hamas” and to free hostages.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send a negotiating team to Egypt to discuss an agreement, but officials earlier warned that the Hamas plan “would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal”.
On Monday night, Israeli jets launched a bombardment of Rafah, striking 50 targets according to the IDF. Earlier in the day, Israel signalled that it had begun its long-awaited offensive on the city, warning 100,000 people to evacuate an eastern section.