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

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

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

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

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

Israel’s military advance in Rafah, a key passageway for humanitarian aid, bucks the U.S.’ repeated warnings to Israel 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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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

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

“Of course, we will be discussing it with Egypt with Qatar with Israel, 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 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage released, along with a permanent halt to Israel’s military operations and hostilities in Gaza, a senior Arab source familiar with the proposal told NBC News.

Hostage 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 Hamas’ announcement.