Last updated: 5/6/202410:46 PM (Mecca time)
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli War Council unanimously decided to continue the military operation in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, while the occupation army said that it was now launching what it described as a surprise attack against targets belonging to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) east of Rafah.
Netanyahu said that the War Council’s decision to proceed with the ground invasion of Rafah comes “to put pressure on Hamas to liberate the prisoners and achieve the goals of the war,” as he put it.
He added, “Although Hamas’s demands are far from ours, we will send a delegation to meet with the mediators to discuss reaching an acceptable deal.”
Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted Netanyahu’s office as saying, “We are continuing our operations in Rafah and will send a delegation to Cairo.”
This comes shortly after the Hamas movement announced that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, made a phone call with the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and with the Director of Egyptian Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, and informed them of the movement’s approval of the proposed ceasefire agreement.