Israel-Gaza war: Netanyahu says ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas falls short of key demands – as it happened
Israeli prime minister’s comments come as diplomatic sources say the agreement approved by Hamas is similar to Egyptian proposal Israel already agreed. This live blog is closed
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu awaits a wreath-marking Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday. Photograph: Amir Cohen-Pool/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu awaits a wreath-marking Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday. Photograph: Amir Cohen-Pool/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock
Netanyahu: ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas falls short of key demands
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas falls short of essential demands, Reuters reported.
Netanyahu’s comments come as diplomatic sources say the agreement approved by Hamas is similar to the Egyptian proposal Israel already agreed to, Haaretz reported on Monday.
According to a foreign diplomatic source familiar with the negotiations, the outline Hamas accepted Monday night is, at its core, the same as the Egyptian proposal which Israel has already approved.
Since Sunday, CIA chief William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani have held several meetings, during which an outline was reached based on the existing proposal – and it was this that enabled the breakthrough to Hamas’ acceptance of the deal.
Another diplomat closely familiar with the proposal said that “the ball is now in Netanyahu’s court.”
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo from Doha on Tuesday to follow up on Gaza ceasefire negotiations. It comes as Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned in a press conference in Beirut that if Israel’s military aggression continues in Rafah, there will be no ceasefire deal, Reuters reports. “We affirm that the military operation in Rafah, if carried out by Israel, will not be a picnic for the (Israeli) army,” Hamdan said.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, added Hamas had offered amendments on Monday to an original Israeli proposal aimed at ending the impasse. The deal text, as amended, suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed,” he said. Israeli forces’ seizure of the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza raised fears that Israel might be beginning an incursion into Rafah. Kirby said the Israelis had assured U.S. officials that the operation was of limited scope and duration and not a large-scale invasion.
Earlier, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas falls short of essential demands, Reuters reported. Netanyahu’s comments come as diplomatic sources say the agreement approved by Hamas is similar to the Egyptian proposal Israel already agreed to, Haaretz reported.
The UN secretary-general warned that Gaza may run out of fuel as quickly as tonight following Israel’s closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing and seizure of the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt. Speaking at a press conference, António Guterres said “agreement between the government of Israel and the leadership of Hamas is essential to stop the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the hostages and their families.” Guterres added that Israel’s attacks on Rafah “would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare.”
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was a mistake to have sent a negotiating team to Cairo today. In a statement Bezalel said that sending the delegation to Cairo “falls into the manipulative trap set by Hamas together with Qatar and Egypt”.
The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, told the media that despite the explicit warnings of the EU, the US and others, Israel’s determination to carry out an offensive in Rafah will lead to the deaths of more civilians “whatever they say”.
Jordan said Israeli settlers attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to Erez crossing in northern Gaza and “tampered with its contents” in the second such incident in less than a week.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah said the convoy which goes through the Israeli-occupied West Bank from Jordan later managed to continue on its journey and reach its destination in war-devastated Gaza.
“Jordan holds Israel responsible for the attack by extremist settlers ... it constitutes a breach of its legal obligations as an occupying power,” Qudah told Reuters.
Aid agencies in Gaza have less than a day’s fuel for trucks and tankers that deliver vital food, medicine, water and diesel to millions across the territory, threatening an almost complete shutdown of operations including bakeries and hospitals, humanitarian officials have warned, writes Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Malak A Tantesh in Rafah.
All main entry points to the south of Gaza are closed and there has been widespread looting of existing stocks in Rafah since aid agencies were forced to leave warehouses unguarded following warnings to evacuate the area from Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) ahead of the military offensive launched into the city on Tuesday morning.
“We are down to less fuel than in a single service station. It’s enough to last a day, basically,” said Georgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza sub-office of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs. “After that, nothing will be moving, and the hospitals won’t be able to keep going for more than two or three days.”
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo from Doha, Qatar on Tuesday to follow up on Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
It comes as Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned in a press conference in Beirut that if Israel’s military aggression continues in Rafah, there will be no ceasefire deal, Reuters reports.
An activist in the US uses keffiyeh scarves tied together to hoist a banner through an upper floor window of a Rhode Island School of Design building they have partially taken over Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at RISD, in Providence, R.I. Photograph: Steven Senne/AP
Israel-Hamas conflict Members of the Queen's University Belfast (QUB) Palestine Assembly hold a 'sit in' in the main Lanyon building of the campus in Belfast, as they calling for the university to divest from Israeli universities, funding of scholarships for Palestinian students and the removal of Hilary Clinton as chancellor of the University. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, added Hamas had offered amendments on Monday to an original Israeli proposal aimed at ending the impasse.
The deal text, as amended, suggests the remaining gaps can “absolutely be closed,” he said.
Israeli forces’ seizure of the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza raised fears that Israel might be beginning an incursion into Rafah.
Kirby said the Israelis had assured U.S. officials that the operation was of limited scope and duration and not a large-scale invasion.
Israel told the US its operation in Rafah was limited and designed to prevent weapons and funds from being smuggled into Gaza, White House national security adviser John Kirby said on Tuesday.
Talks on a hostage deal and ceasefire were resuming in Cairo on Tuesday with CIA drector William Burns attending and the two sides should be able to close the remaining gaps, Kirby added.
Police have clashed with students at several universities after protests spread from US college campuses to Europe. Demonstrations have taken place in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and Belgium, where students have set up encampments and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian protests spread across European universities – video report
The UK is “imploring” Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing into Gaza, a foreign minister told parliament.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon also echoed concerns over a threatened military offensive on the southern city of Rafah pointing out around half the population - some 600,000 - were children.
He said: “We are imploring Israel to ensure that the crossings that were shut are opened immediately, including in Rafah.
“We are deeply concerned about the prospect of a military incursion given the number of civilians that are sheltering there and the importance of Rafah in terms of crossing for aid.”
Xi Jinping, sensing a diplomatic opening, is stepping up China’s intervention in the Middle East crisis, issuing a joint statement with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to urge Israel not to go ahead with an offensive in Rafah.
The rare moment of Sino-European synergy is the latest effort by China to make its diplomatic mark in a region in which it has deep economic interests, but more shallow diplomatic moorings.
Beijing’s primary initiative is to try to effect a reconciliation between the two main Palestinian factions, the secular Fatah and Islamist Hamas and it hosted talks between the two groups last week. Palestinian unity is seen by China, as it has by Gulf states too, as a precondition to a coherent plan for the administration of Gaza and the West Bank, on whatever terms the war ends.
The head of the Hamas international relations office, Musa Abu Marzouk, said in an interview on Sunday that he expected Fatah and Hamas to return to Beijing for a second round of talks shortly.
“Never again simply translated for me means: Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth,” Biden said as he addressed a bipartisan memorial held at the U.S. Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.
“The truth is we’re at risk of people not knowing the truth.”
Biden spoke seven months to the day after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 by Israeli tallies, in what Biden has called the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
“This hatred (of Jews) continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness,” the US president said.
“Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting ... that Hamas unleashed this terror.
“I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget.”
A US State Department spokesperson said it remains its top priority to reach a ceasefire agreement that will lead to the release of hostages and that will allow a surge of humanitarian assistance both into Gaza and allow it to move around inside Gaza.
The spokesperson added: “We are working to ensure an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian assistance, to include the immediate reopening of Kerem Shalom for humanitarian assistance. Israel has committed to do that in no less than 24 hours.
“We have also repeatedly and consistently expressed our views on a major operation in Rafah.
“We believe the Rafah border crossing should be reopened for the movement of humanitarian assistance.”
