Israeli leaders on Monday approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, and Israeli forces soon after began striking targets in the area.
The offensive came hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, which could end seven months of war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the cease-fire proposal was “far from Israel’s essential demands,” but that it would nonetheless send negotiators to continue talks on such an agreement.
What’s in the deal as of Monday even was still largely unclear.
Israel has for weeks said its next phase in the war was to attack Rafah, in the southern part of Gaza.
Read the full story from the Associated Press.
