RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has rejected the latest proposal put forward by international mediators for a cease-fire and hostage release…
Strip Hamas has rejected the latest proposal put forward by international mediators for a cease-fire and hostage release, and Israel has blasted a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for both without linking them.
As the war in Gaza grinds through a sixth month, each side has publicly insisted that its own idea of victory is in reach, and late Monday they rejected the latest international efforts to stem the bloodshed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel can achieve its aims of dismantling Hamas and returning scores of hostages if it expands its ground offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where over half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge, many in crowded tent camps.
Hamas has said it will hold onto the hostages until Israel agrees to a more permanent cease-fire, withdraws its forces from Gaza and releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including top militants. It said late Monday that it has rejected a recent proposal that fell short of those demands — which, if fulfilled, would allow it to claim an extremely costly victory.
There is no end in sight to the war, which has killed over 32,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The fighting has left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins, displaced most its residents and driven a third of its population of 2.3 million to the brink of famine.
An Israeli strike late Monday on a residential building in Rafah where three displaced families were sheltering killed at least 16 people, including nine children and four women, according to hospital records and relatives of the deceased. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies arrive at a hospital.
