Israel not happy with truce offer, decides to go ahead with Rafah op

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Monday that the country's war cabinet decided to go ahead with the planned military operation in Rafah as it was not satisfied with the truce proposal Hamas accepted.

Netanyahu's office claimed that the latest offer is "far from Israel's obligatory demands" and stressed the Rafah operation is needed to "apply military pressure on Hamas, with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims." Israel also noted that it will send negotiators to hold talks with mediators in order to try to broker a deal that meets Israel's expectations.