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Palestinians celebrate after Hamas’s announcement
Palestinians in Rafah celebrate after Hamas says it has accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar
US says it opposes Rafah invasion, regardless of Hamas’s ceasefire response
The US Department of State’s Matthew Miller reasserted US opposition to an Israeli assault on Rafah, which he said is separate from the push for a ceasefire.
“We cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned,” he said, adding that the US has not seen a credible plan to protect the 1.5 million civilians trapped in the city.
“Even absent this latest response [by Hamas], we have made clear that we do not support Israel launching a full-scale military operation in Rafah.”
Miller also expressed concern over Israel’s order to evacuate residents of eastern Rafah. “If you see 100,000 people move, you’re going to see other people in the next area move as well – which, of course, is something that you want to see happen if there’s a military operation. But the problem now is there such limited places for them to go inside Gaza,” Miller told reporters.
“And there is no effective way to distribute aid to them and make sure they have access to shelter, access to sanitation in the places that they would go.”
Cautious optimism in Deir el-Balah
There is news coming that this is not a ceasefire; people are not allowed to go back to their houses, they’re not allowed to go to Rafah, they’re not allowed to go to the red zone, people cannot go to the north. We are still waiting for an acceptance from the Israeli authorities and we are still waiting to hear from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.
So people are now aware that yes, this is not a ceasefire, and yes, they need to wait – but to be honest, people here are very optimistic, they are very hopeful. They stopped chanting like five minutes ago because they are tired, their voices were tired from the amount of singing and chanting.
People are very optimistic that this is going to lead to a ceasefire. People are desperate and were very thirsty to hear anything positive. Seven months of destruction, of air strikes, of famine. People are so tired, exhausted, all of these people, all they want to hear is a ceasefire and they also want to go back to their homes.
Palestinian President Abbas welcomes mediation efforts
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he hopes the Israeli government will commit to stopping the war in Gaza and withdraw from the enclave, according to the Palestinian state news agency Wafa.
Moreover, Abbas said a ceasefire agreement was a top priority for since the first day of the war in Gaza.
Abbas called on the international community to put pressure on Israel and to continue efforts to end Israel’s occupation of Palestine, Wafa said.
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