The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had agreed to a cease-fire proposal for the Gaza Strip, but Israel¡¯s war Cabinet unanimously rejected it as ¡°far from Israel¡¯s necessary demands,¡± dashing hopes for an immediate pause in the fighting.
Israel vowed to continue ¡°its operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas¡± but also said it will send a delegation to meet with mediators ¡°to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement.¡± In a statement later Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced fresh airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Rafah area.
The Israeli response followed hours after Hamas had posted a statement on Telegram saying that Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political office, had accepted a Qatari and Egyptian cease-fire proposal. Questions were raised almost immediately about the details, with both U.S. and Israeli officials saying they were studying the Hamas response.
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