Why has Israel rejected three-phase ceasefire deal accepted by Hamas? What comes next?

On Monday (6 May), almost seven months into the Israel-Hamas war, came a sliver of hope that the war would come to an end as the Palestinian group, Hamas, approved a proposal for a ceasefire put forward by mediators Qatar and Egypt.

With the announcement, Palestinians celebrated in the streets of Gaza, while in Tel Aviv, hostage families and their supporters implored Israel’s leaders to accept the deal.

However, it seems that peace will elude the region for longer.

That’s because Israel responded sceptically and said it would press on with its campaign in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah . The Israeli prime minister’s office said the war Cabinet had decided unanimously to push ahead with an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation in Rafah “in order to apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

Amid this confusion, we explore what is in three-phase ceasefire deal that Hamas accepted, why Israel rejected it and what this means for the ongoing war.

Hamas accepts ceasefire deal

On Monday, after days and days of negotiations, Hamas approved a ceasefire proposal put forth by Egypt and Qatar . The Palestinian group in a statement said that its supreme leader, Ismail Haniyeh , had expressed his agreement in a phone call with Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence minister.

Haniyeh said in a call with Qatar’s head of state that Israel should “seize the moment and accept the proposal.”

“After Hamas agreed to the mediators’ proposal for a ceasefire, the ball is now in the court of Israeli occupation, whether it will agree to the ceasefire agreement or obstruct it,” a senior Hamas official told AFP, soon after the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh had announced its acceptance.

It is reported that Hamas accepted the proposal only after mediators reworked it with CIA Director Bill Burns even travelling to Cairo last week and then on to Doha where he worked with the Qataris on the language, CNN reports.

Hamas’ acceptance of the proposal was the first glimmer of hope that further bloodshed — over 34,735 people have been killed — would be averted. There were celebrations in Gaza as Palestinians hoped this would finally bring an end to the bloody war.

The three-phase proposal

While it is not confirmed what exactly was Hamas agreeing to, officials involved in the negotiations said that the proposal comprised three phases, each being 42 days long.

In the first phase, Hamas would release 33 hostages — the group is believed to still hold 128 of the 250 hostages they had taken — in return for Israel releasing Palestinians from Israeli jails. Moreover, Israel would partially withdraw troops from Gaza and allow for free movement of Palestinians from south to north Gaza.

In phase two, which is another 42 days long, there would be a complete and permanent halt to military activity in Gaza.

And the final phase, phase three would see the completion of exchanging bodies and starting the implementation of reconstruction according to the plan overseen by Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations. It would also see the ending of the complete blockage in the Gaza Strip.

Israel rejects proposal

Shortly after Hamas announced it had approved the proposal, celebrations broke out in Gaza. Al Jazeera reported that people started celebrating near the Kuwaiti Hospital upon hearing the Hamas announcement. The announcement brought “a sense of relief and tranquility” among Palestinians who are “exhausted and traumatised”, said the news outlet.

However, confusion prevailed as Israel initially remained mum on the matter and then later stated that their operation in Rafah would continue.

It was later reported that Israeli officials said the terms Hamas claimed to have accepted did not match those that they had approved. A statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, “Hamas’s latest offer was “far from [meeting] Israel’s essential requirements.”

It further added that Israel would send working-level teams to hold talks with the mediators in order “to exhaust the possibility of achieving an agreement on terms that are acceptable to Israel.”

War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz also was quoted as telling the Times of Israel that the ceasefire proposal Hamas accepted “is inconsistent with the dialogue [Israel] held with the mediators to this point and has significant gaps [from Israel’s demands].”

Israel’s negotiators were “continuing their work at every moment” and “will leave no stone unturned,” Gantz promised. “Every decision will be brought before the war cabinet. There will be no political considerations” in the decision-making, he added (emphasis in original).

Israel officials, as per a Channel 12 report, said that this “was not the same proposal” that the Jewish nation and Egypt has agreed upon days ago.

An official also told Sky News that Hamas’ announcement “appears to be a ruse to cast Israel as the side refusing a deal”.

Israel has consistently asserted that it won’t accept any deal which provides for a permanent ceasefire and that it would resume its military campaign after any truce-for-hostages deal, in order to complete its two declared war goals: returning the hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governance capabilities.

However, Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to reject the deal prompted family members of the hostages to protest in Tel Aviv. They called on their government to accept the deal, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum saying, “Hamas’s announcement must pave the way for the return of the 132 hostages held captive by Hamas for the past seven months. Now is the time for all that are involved to fulfil their commitment and turn this opportunity into a deal for the return of all the hostages.”

US officials at the White House and the State Department were repeatedly asked by journalists during news briefings about Hamas’s acceptance of the deal. But Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, and John Kirby, the White House National Security spokesperson, refused to get into any details.

Uncertain and shaky future awaits

While Israel asserted that it would send its delegation for further talks, it also reiterated its commitment to an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying its war Cabinet had “unanimously decided” to continue with the operation “to exert military pressure on Hamas.”

The IDF said it was “conducting targeted strikes against Hamas terror targets in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” An AFP reporter in the city reported heavy bombardment throughout the night, while the Kuwaiti hospital there said on Tuesday in an updated toll that 11 people had been killed and dozens of others injured in Israeli strikes.

News agency AP also reported that Israeli tanks had entered Rafah, reaching as close as 200 metres from Rafah’s crossing with neighbouring Egypt.

It is also reported that US president Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and reiterated US concerns about an invasion of Rafah. Aid agencies and human rights activists have also warned that an offensive in Rafah would bring a surge of more civilian deaths in an Israeli campaign that has already killed over 34,000 people and devastated the territory. It could also wreck the humanitarian aid operation based out of Rafah that is keeping Palestinians across the Gaza Strip alive, they say.

With inputs from agencies