The Latest | Hamas says it agreed to a cease-fire, as Palestinians in Gaza celebrate
The Hamas militant group said Monday it had accepted a cease-fire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar, which could end seven months of war in Gaza. However, it’s uncertain whether a deal had been sealed.
People jubilantly rushed into the streets in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is in the crosshairs of a possible Israeli military offensive. Men rode on each other’s shoulders, whistling and shouting as children ran around them.
However, it’s uncertain whether a deal had been sealed. An Israeli official warned that the plan approved by Hamas “is not the framework Israel proposed.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Israel is still formulating a response, and did not elaborate.
The announcement came hours after Israel’s military said it ordered around 100,000 people to evacuate Rafah, signaling the long-promised ground invasion could be imminent. Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold.
More than a million people in Rafah are huddled in tents and overcrowded apartments after fleeing Israel’s military offensive in other parts of the territory. The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction throughout several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials.
The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Currently:
— Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza after Israel orders Rafah evacuation ahead of attack
— Yearly memorial march at the former death camp at Auschwitz overshadowed by Israel-Hamas war
— Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment
— Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off international pressure against Gaza offensive
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
TURKISH PRESIDENT WELCOMES HAMAS ACCEPTING A CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed a statement by the Hamas militant group that it has accepted a cease-fire proposal, and he called on Israel to also accept the deal.
Speaking at the end of Cabinet meeting Monday, Erdogan also urged Western nations to exert pressure on Israeli to accept the deal. He suggested that Turkey had urged Hamas to accept the proposal.
“We were happy by the statement from Hamas that it accepted the cease-fire with our recommendations. The same step must now be also taken by Israel. I call on all Western actors to exert pressure on Israel,” Erdogan said.
Turkey, a vocal critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, suspended trade relations with Israel last week. It said the commercial ties won’t be restored until a permanent cease-fire is installed and obstructions to the flow of aid into Gaza are removed.
ISRAELI OFFICIAL WARNS THAT HAMAS CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL DOES NOT MEET ISRAELI FRAMEWORK
JERUSALEM — An official familiar with Israeli thinking says Israeli officials are examining the cease-fire proposal approved by Hamas.
But the official warns that the plan approved by Hamas “is not the framework Israel proposed.”
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because Israel is still formulating a formal response, did not elaborate.
The language signaled that a deal could still be a ways off.
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By Josef Federman
U.S. WAITS TO SEE IF CEASE-FIRE ACCEPTED BY HAMAS REFLECTS WHAT ISRAEL AND MEDIATORS ALREADY AGREED TO
WASHINGTON — A U.S. official said that Washington was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or to something else.
Details of the proposal haven’t been released. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
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By Zeke Miller.
HAMAS SAYS IT HAS ACCEPTED A CEASE-FIRE DEAL
The Hamas militant group says it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal to halt the seven-month war with Israel.
It issued a statement Monday saying its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had delivered the news in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence minister. The two Middle Eastern nations have been mediating months of talks between Israel and Hamas. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
The announcement came hours after Israel ordered Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah ahead of an Israeli military operation. Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold.
News of Hamas’ announcement sent people in Rafah cheering in the streets. People rushed into the streets in front of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, chanting and cheering the news.
Details of the proposal were not immediately released. But in recent days, Egyptian and Hamas officials have said the cease-fire would take place in a series of stages in which Hamas would release hostages it is holding in exchange for Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza.
It is not clear whether the deal will meet Hamas’ key demand of bringing about an end to the war and complete Israeli withdrawal.
ISRAEL’S BLOCKAGE OF AL JAZEERA NEWS WEBSITE TAKES EFFECT
JERUSALEM — Israel’s blockage of Al Jazeera’s news website appeared to take effect Monday, a day after Israel shut the local offices of the Qatari network and halted its broadcasts in Israel.
The network’s website was no longer accessible on local Wi-Fi networks in Israel as of Monday afternoon, although it could still be viewed using virtual private networks, or VPNs. Access to the network’s YouTube livestream and social media feeds appeared undisturbed. Al Jazeera went off Israel’s main cable and satellite providers Sunday.
Believed to be the first time Israel has closed a foreign news outlet operating in the country, the shuttering of Al-Jazeera’s operation marks the culmination of a long-running feud that has only been exacerbated by the network’s coverage of the current Israel-Hamas war.
Since Hamas militants’ initial cross-border attack Oct. 7, the network has maintained 24-hour coverage of Israel’s grinding ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, including the deaths of members of its own staff, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that it had become necessary to remove the network, calling it a “Hamas mouthpiece.”
The Foreign Press Association in Israel criticized the order.
“With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station,” it said. “This is a dark day for the media.” The New York-based Committee to Project Journalists similarly warned the move represented an “extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel.”
600,000 KIDS IN RAFAH ARE AT ‘CATASTROPHIC’ RISK FROM ISRAELI INVASION, U.N. CHILDREN’S AGENCY WARNS
JERUSALEM — The U.N. children’s agency says an Israeli ground operation in Rafah would pose “catastrophic risks” to children sheltering in the southern Gaza city.
UNICEF estimates some 600,000 children are in Rafah – roughly half the city’s population. Most of those people are huddling in tents and overcrowded apartments after fleeing Israel’s military offensive in other parts of the territory.
In a statement Monday, UNICEF warned that many of the children are “highly vulnerable.”
It said an estimated 65,000 children suffer from a pre-existing disability and an estimated 175,000 children under the age of 5 suffer from one or more infectious diseases. Almost all children, it said require mental health services.
“More than 200 days of war have taken an unimaginable toll on the lives of children,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director. “Rafah is now a city of children, who have nowhere safe to go in Gaza. If large scale military operations start, not only will children be at risk from the violence, but also from chaos and panic, and at a time where their physical and mental states are already weakened.”
UNICEF called for a lasting cease-fire and release of hostages held by Hamas.
BIDEN AND NETANYAHU SPEAK BY PHONE AS ISRAEL APPEARS CLOSE TO INVADING RAFAH
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Monday morning, a White House official said, as Israel appeared closer to launching an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah — a move staunchly opposed by the U.S. on humanitarian grounds.
A National Security Council spokesperson said Biden reiterated U.S. concerns about an invasion of Rafah said he believes reaching a ceasefire with Hamas is the best way to protect the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the call before an official White House statement was released.
The Biden administration, which provides Israel crucial military and diplomatic support, says it opposes a Rafah invasion unless Israel provides a “credible” plan for protecting civilians there.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency has warned that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel carries out a military assault into Rafah. The city on the border with Egypt is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
— By Zeke Miller.
EGYPT URGES ISRAEL TO EXERCISE MAXIMUM RESTRAINT
CAIRO — Egypt has urged Israel to “exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation at this extremely sensitive time in the process of cease-fire negotiations.”
In a statement Monday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry warned against Israel’s imminent offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. It says such an escalation will cause grave humanitarian risks to over a million Palestinians packed in the city.
The statement said Egypt continues to communicate with all parties to “prevent the situation from getting worse or getting out of control.”
Egypt has been a key mediator in ongoing efforts to broker a cease-fire that would halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
GERMANY, FRANCE REITERATE OPPOSITION TO ISRAEL’S RAFAH OFFENSIVE
BERLIN — Germany and France have reiterated their opposition to Israel’s planned offensive on Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said Monday that more than 1 million people are currently living in the area, adding that “these people need protection … and the German government and the foreign minister have already said repeatedly in the past that a large-scale ground offensive on Rafah would be a humanitarian disaster.”
At the same time, the spokesperson, Kathrin Deschauer, condemned the continued attacks by Hamas on Israel from the Gaza Strip, and called for the release of over 100 people “who are still held hostage by Hamas, who need to be freed.”
All sides must now make “maximum efforts,” she said, so that Palestinians in Gaza can be supplied with humanitarian goods and the hostages can be freed at the same time.
In Paris, the Foreign Ministry reiterated France’s “firm opposition to Israel’s offensive in Rafah,” saying more than 1.3 million people are “in grave situation” after seeking shelter there.
France warned that “displacing civilian population by force constitutes a war crime under international law.”
The Foreign Ministry reiterated its position on the Israel-Hamas war, demanding an immediate release of Israeli hostages and a sustained cease-fire in Gaza to protect civilians.
On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and urged him to follow through with the negotiations that could ‘’lead to the release of hostages, the protection of civilians by a cease-fire and regional de-escalation,’’ according to Macron’s office.
“’The destiny of the Palestinians of Gaza can no longer be subject to the terrorist actions of Hamas, and the Israeli operations should stop,’’ Macron said, and reiterated his ‘’firmest opposition’’ to an Israeli offensive in Rafah.
HAMAS WARNS ISRAEL THAT A RAFAH INVASION WON’T BE A ‘PICNIC’
BEIRUT — The militant Palestinian group Hamas warned Israel on Monday that any military operation in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip “will not be a picnic.”
Hamas said in statement that Palestinian militant groups, led by Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, “are ready to defend our people and defeat the enemy.”
The statement was the first official comment since the Israeli army ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in Rafah to start evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.
Hamas called on the international community to move quickly “to stop the crime that is threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians.” It also called on international agencies including the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees to stay in Rafah and support the people there.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY REPORTS 52 DEAD IN THE LAST 24 HOURS
BEIRUT — The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday the bodies of 52 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 90 wounded, it said in its daily report.
That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,735 the ministry said, and 78,108 wounded.
The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but says that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim.
DUTCH MINISTER CALLS FOR A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION TO END CLASHES ALONG LEBANON-ISRAEL BORDER
BEIRUT — Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot on Monday called for an urgent “diplomatic solution” to end intensifying clashes between the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group and the Israeli military along the tense Lebanon-Israel border.
“The Netherlands has grave concerns about rising tensions in the border region and intensified fighting, and we regret the loss of innocent civilian lives,” Bruins Slot said following a meeting with her Lebanese counterpart, caretaker Foreign Minister Fouad Bou Habib in Beirut. “And this has implications for Lebanon and the wider region.”
Israel, which sees Hezbollah as its most direct threat, has not ruled out a war in southern Lebanon. It estimates that the Iran-backed Shiite group has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at the country. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a tense stalemate.
Western diplomats have scrambled to halt the hostilities. Hezbollah, and ally of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, has maintained that it would stop its attacks on northern Israel when the Hamas-Israel war ends.
RAFAH INVASION COULD BE THE DEADLIEST IN THE CONFLICT, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL SAYS
JERUSALEM — The Norwegian Refugee Council has condemned the Israeli army’s “forced, unlawful” evacuation order in Rafah, saying that it could lead to “the deadliest phase of this conflict.”
Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the international nonprofit organization, says there are not enough resources in Israel’s self-declared Muwasi humanitarian zone, where the army instructed some 100,000 people in Rafah to relocate on Monday.
“The area is already overstretched and devoid of vital services,” Egeland said.
He says his organization and other international humanitarian groups are struggling to provide essential support for Palestinians in Gaza. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are currently located in Rafah, while Israel’s government has vowed to press on with a military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city.
FOURTH ISRAELI SOLDIER DIES OF WOUNDS IN A HAMAS ROCKET ATTACK
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army says a fourth soldier has died from wounds sustained in a Hamas rocket attack on the border with Gaza.
Hamas launched at least 10 rockets toward soldiers positioned on the border Sunday, killing three other soldiers.
The attack occurred near Kerem Shalom, a major crossing point for international aid being delivered to Gaza, and came as Israel is preparing a possible invasion into the nearby Palestinian city of Rafah.
Israel has shuttered Kerem Shalom indefinitely, and on Monday, it began ordering civilians to evacuate parts of eastern Rafah, near the border, ahead of an expected military operation.
UNRWA SAYS IT WON’T COMPLY WITH AN ISRAELI EVACUATION ORDER FOR RAFAH
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The United Nations agency serving Palestinian refugees says it will not comply with an Israeli military order to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Juliette Touma, communications director for UNRWA, says the agency has not evacuated the area and has no plans to do so. She says it has thousands of employees in the city.
“UNRWA will not take part in any forced evacuation of the population in Rafah or elsewhere in Gaza,” she said. “We are committed to staying and delivering humanitarian assistance.” She called for a cease-fire.
Relations between Israel and UNRWA have long been strained and further deteriorated during the seven-month war.
Israel has accused UNRWA of collaborating with the Hamas militant group and called for the agency’s closure.
UNRWA, the largest international provider of aid and services in Gaza, denies the accusations.
GERMANY CRITICIZES ISRAEL’S SHUTDOWN OF AL JAZEERA
BERLIN — Germany’s Foreign Office on Monday condemned the shutdown of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network in Israel.
The Foreign Office wrote on X that “a free and diverse press landscape is the cornerstone of every liberal democracy. In times of conflict especially, it is of crucial importance to protect the freedom of the press.”
“The decision of the Israeli authorities to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel is the wrong signal,” the ministry said.
Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against a ground offensive in Rafah.
ISRAELI ARMY TELLS PALESTINIANS TO EVACUATE PARTS OF RAFAH
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.
The announcement on Monday complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.
Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But last October, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.
ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN LEBANON INJURES 3 PEOPLE, BEIRUT SAYS
BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on northeastern Lebanon wounded three people and destroyed a building, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says.
The strike on the village of Safri early Monday targeted a factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the agency said without giving further details.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in Safri.
Monday’s strike came after a tense day along the Lebanon-Israel border during which an Israeli airstrike on a village near the border killed four Lebanese civilians.
The militant Hezbollah group said it fired dozens of rockets in retaliation toward northern Israel.
The Lebanon-Israel border has seen almost daily exchange of fire since a day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. In Israel, strikes from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.