Israel launches strikes on Rafah, will send delegation to continue Gaza cease-fire talks

[Pelican Press 0]

******* launches strikes on Rafah, will send delegation to continue Gaza cease-***** talks

A man rides a horse-pulled cart along a street ravaged by ******** ******** in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 9, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between ******* and the ************ militant group ******. 

Mohammed Abed | Afp | Getty Images

The

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launched strikes on the southernmost city of Rafah Monday, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken refuge.

“The War Cabinet unanimously decided that ******* continues the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on ****** in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war,” the ******** Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Monday.

The strikes began hours after ****** announced it had approved a Qatari-Egyptian brokered cease-***** proposal, to halt the war in Gaza.

“Although the ****** proposal is far from *******’s necessary requirements, ******* will send a delegation of working-class mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions acceptable to *******,” the PM’s office said.

*******’s military advance in Rafah, a key passageway for humanitarian aid, bucks the U.S.’ repeated warnings to ******* to abstain from those attacks.

“We cannot and we will not speak for IDF operations. But we’ve made clear our views about operations in Rafah that could potentially put more than a million innocent people at greater risk,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a White House press briefing on Monday.

President Joe Biden delivered the same message on a half-hour call earlier Monday with ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Chairman of the ****** Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh speaks to press as he pays a visit to ************ photojournalist Ashraf Amra, a freelancer for Turkiye’s premier news agency Anadolu who was severely injured on his hand by ******** army ***** while covering a protest demonstration, at the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkiye on September 22, 2023.

Cem Tekkesinoglu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Last week, the U.S. paused a shipment of weapons to *******, including 2,000-pound ******, two senior administration officials confirmed to NBC News.

The White House is also in the process of reviewing the Qatari-Egyptian brokered cease-***** proposal, and has not yet signaled its stance on the plan.

“Of course, we will be discussing it with Egypt with Qatar with *******, the three countries with whom we have been working throughout this negotiation process,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing Monday afternoon. “Obviously if those conversations have not already started they will be ongoing in the next several hours.”

The proposal would require a swap of 33 ************ prisoners for every ******** ******** released, along with a permanent halt to *******’s military operations and hostilities in Gaza, a senior ***** source familiar with the proposal told NBC News.

******** release negotiations intensified over the weekend, with facilitation from U.S. CIA Director William Burns, alongside mediators from Egypt and Qatar. Burns continued to engage in talks on Monday after ******’ announcement.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including children, migrate from eastern neighborhoods after ******* warns them with pamphlets to evacuate Rafah, Gaza on May 06, 2024.

Ali Jadallah | Anadolu | Getty Images

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Defense,Elections,Politics,Breaking News: Politics,*******,******* States,Government and politics,Foreign policy,Joe Biden,Benjamin Netanyahu,Abdullah II,William J. Burns,Gaza,business news
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