After a brief hope for a truce, the bombs returned. The Israeli army carried out intensive bombing on Monday evening in the eastern city of Rafah after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian and Qatari proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The strikes lasted about thirty minutes, a correspondent reported shortly before 21:00 French time. At the same time, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.
Already on the night from Sunday to Monday, Israel carried out air and artillery bombardments of the territory of Rafah. The strikes come as Israel has spent months proving its intention to carry out a major offensive on Rafah, where 1.2 million Palestinian refugees live, according to the UN.
Israel repeats call for evacuation
On Monday evening, the Israeli army repeated its call for residents of Rafah’s eastern neighborhoods to leave the area as a prelude to a “ground operation.” “We are asking residents tonight (Monday) to evacuate specific areas that we have designated,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said during a brief press briefing, clarifying that the start of the evacuation of the population from the eastern areas of Rafah was “part of preparations for the ground operation in this district”. “During the day, the planes also hit more than 50 terrorist targets in the Rafah area,” on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, he added.
The “mass evacuation” of parts of Rafah’s population ordered by Israel “cannot” be carried out in a “safe” manner, a spokesman for the UN secretary-general warned on Monday, assuring that the United Nations was not taking any action. participation in “any involuntary evacuation.”
“Today’s order to evacuate eastern Rafah will simply increase the suffering of the civilian population. They were ordered to move to Al-Mawasi, which is already overcrowded and lacks security and basic humanitarian services. A mass evacuation of this scale cannot be carried out safely,” Stephane Dujarric told the press.
Uncertainty surrounding the armistice agreement
Hours before these new explosions, Hamas announced that it had accepted the truce proposal. The announcement sparked scenes of jubilation in Rafah as residents rejoiced. However, the celebration was short-lived as Israel, for its part, had not yet accepted the agreement.
An Israeli official said Israel was reviewing the proposal accepted by Hamas. “This is not the basis we agreed on,” he said. The United States also said it was reviewing the text.
According to senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, the agreement includes three phases, each lasting 42 days, and includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, the return of displaced persons and the exchange of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip. and Palestinians. prisoners held by Israel for the purpose of a “permanent ceasefire”.
Source: Le Parisien
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