Israel launched an offensive into the final Hamas stronghold of Rafah on Monday — and a major target appeared to be the key border crossing with Egypt — the only way in or out of the Gaza Strip that Israel does not control.
The assault on the southern city — where more than 1 million Palestinians have taken refuge from war elsewhere in the territory — came after Hamas made a last-ditch ploy for a cease-fire.
However, Hamas changed the language in the deal — allowing the terror group to count the bodies of dead hostages among the 33 Israelis they had agreed to turn over in exchange for a temporary stop to the fighting, according to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN TV.
Hamas made major headlines when it said it approved a cease-fire deal Monday afternoon. But the Hamas deal had major differences from previous iterations put forward by Israel.
In addition, Hamas continued to demand an end to the war, which has been a non-starter for Israel as it has vowed to eradicate the terror group.
Israel’s ground offensive launched shortly after the Jewish state called out and rejected the Hamas cease-fire proposal as nothing more than deception.
A Palestinian security official and Egyptian official both said Israeli tanks had entered the southern Gaza city and were as close as 250 yards from the crossing.
The IDF wants to control the Palestinian side of the crossing to review any aid flowing into Gaza, a source with direct knowledge told Axios’ Barak Ravid.
Israeli leaders believe that by taking over the crucial Rafah crossing, it will greatly damage Hamas’ claim that it is still ruling Gaza, the source added.
The world’s eyes are now trained on Rafah. President Biden told the Israelis the US would not support a military operation there.
“The president was consistent again this morning that we don’t support ground operations in Rafah,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters prior to the advancement.
As the IDF entered Rafah, Hamas said it fired rockets at the Israeli city of Sderot, Nir Am and other areas near the Gazan border.
The IDF confirmed that the missiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, with one home damaged by falling shrapnel from the attack.
The announcement came shortly after Israel’s war cabinet unanimously voted to proceed with the attack on Hamas’ final stronghold in an effort to apply military pressure on the terror group, “with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The prime minister also slammed Hamas’ latest truce officer as “far from Israel’s obligatory demands.”
Following Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s announcement that the terror group had accepted a cease-fire deal, Israeli officials told multiple outlets that the deal presented to the terror group was a “softened” version of what was really on the table and is not being taken seriously by Jerusalem.
One official told Reuters that the announcement was a clear ruse by the terror group to create a backlash against Israel for refusing a deal, and officials told public broadcaster KAN TV that the announcement of a cease-fire agreement was a “Hamas deception.”
Hamas’ announcement triggered celebrations across Gaza, where Palestinians cheered and chanted “Allahu Akbar” in the streets — though the celebration was short-lived.
Despite criticizing Hamas’ move, Netanyahu’s office said Israel is still sending a negotiation team to Cairo “to exhaust the possibility of achieving an agreement on terms that are acceptable to Israel.”
But as the Rafah offensive began, families and far-leftist supporters of the hostages in Gaza began demonstrating outside Netanyahu’s home accusing the prime minister of putting the war above the hostages’ lives.
“Bibi is abandoning the hostages!” the leftist demonstrators shouted, according to The Times of Israel.
Israel has repeatedly rejected any cease-fire deal that calls for an end to the war, with Netanyahu saying that the conflict will only end once Hamas has been eradicated and Gaza proves to no longer be a threat to the Jewish State.
Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing parts of Rafah after Israel issued warnings it was planning to start military action.
Admiral Daniel Hagari said the more than 100,000 Palestinians who were told to flee eastern Rafah on Monday were instructed to stay in humanitarian zones for the rest of the night, while others were told to run to Al-Mawasi or Khan Younis.
“There they will receive a full humanitarian response, where water, food, medical equipment and shelter will be provided,” Hagari said in a statement.
Netanyahu has agreed to keep the Kerem Shalom crossing open to allow humanitarian aid to go through after closing the passage over the weekend following Hamas’ attack.
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