Israeli military aircraft have heavily bombed the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip accompanied with ground advances shortly after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said it had agreed to a proposal on ceasefire in Gaza.
A Palestinian journalist reported flares in the night sky, while locals said dozens of reconnaissance drones flew overhead.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa and Egyptian media said Israeli military vehicles advanced towards the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, as well as the Karem Shalom crossing with the Israeli-occupied territories.
A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian authority have told the Associated Press news agency that Israeli tanks have entered Rafah, reaching as close as 200 meters from Rafah’s border crossing with neighboring Egypt.
The Israeli military has said it was conducting “targeted strikes” against Hamas in eastern Rafah.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has also said "Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas" in order to advance the release of captives and what it called "the other objectives of the war."
In the meantime, it described the proposal on ceasefire as "far from Israel's essential demands," but added that it would send negotiators for talks "to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement."
The military strikes on Rafah came ahead of talks in Egypt on Tuesday aimed at sealing a truce proposal accepted by Hamas, which was put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
According to a copy of the proposal, there will be three phases to ending Israel’s onslaught against Gaza.
The first phase calls for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Netzarim corridor and the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes. The second phase involves an announcement of a permanent cessation of military operations. In the last phase, there would be a complete end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In return, Israel would be required to release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners, withdraw its troops from certain regions of the Gaza Strip, and allow Palestinians to travel from the south of the coastal sliver to the north.
About 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah, once designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military. Palestinians are now struggling to evacuate the city, after the Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering them to leave as a large-scale assault on the city is planned.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that a ground invasion of Rafah would be “intolerable” and called on Israel and Hamas “to go an extra mile” to reach a truce deal.
“This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilizing impact in the region,” Guterres told reporters on Monday ahead of a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in New York.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has also warned that Israel is “jeopardizing the deal by bombing Rafah.”
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Dont live your life with HATE in your heart for anyone,
You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you HATE
Dear Brothers.
There is no God but ALLAH and Muhammad pbuh is the last and final messenger of ALLAH. ALLAH guides the one who is HONEST in knowing the TRUTH.
The Prophets of ALLAH are many but 25 Prophets are mentioned in QURAN by name.The best of them are 5
Prophet Noah,
Prophet Abraham,
Prophet Moses,
Prophet Jesus and
Prophet Muhammad - Peace be upon them all.
Mankind needs Guidance from their teachings... They all conveyed that ALLAH is the creator of all that exists (human beings, animals, plants, earth, universe and all that is in between them) and we all should WORSHIP him alone without associating partners.
Everyone is born as a Muslim but their parents take them to worship different man made objects as Gods... which is a Sin. (Until U research on it, You will never understand the consequences on worshiping others beside the True God)
Come to the TRUTH... and use your intellect to know the reality with LOGIC And REASON ---- QURAN invites YOU to use this logic and REASON & compare it with Bible, vedas and other scriptures... PLease TRY to read QURAN (TheQuranproject online)without being bias.
These people are jealous that they cannot attract/convert anybody from other community.....Islam is the best religion....one Allah....one prophet...thank Allah--- am a muslim....
these people can sell ramayana and mahabharatha nobody will come to object
These goons are afraid of people finding truth .and leaving the baseless religion....
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