Explainer: Israeli assault on Gaza city of Rafah: what we know so far ( www.theguardian.com )
Israel carried out airstrikes in eastern Rafah after issuing orders for the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from part of the city earlier on Monday, triggering an exodus of thousands of people. The Israeli military said late on Monday it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinian civilians are sheltering.
There were reports of Israeli tanks being seen on the eastern outskirts of Rafah and a Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official said they had reached as close as 200 metres from Rafah’s crossing with neighbouring Egypt. The Axios news site cited unnamed sources as saying Israeli forces planned to take over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, the sole gateway between Egypt and Gaza for humanitarian supplies and people. The Guardian could not independently verify that report.
Palestinian hospital officials said one strike on a house in Rafah late Monday killed five Palestinians, including a woman and a girl. Twenty-two people including two babies and other children were killed in earlier strikes on Monday.
The strikes came as Hamas said it had agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators. Hamas said in a brief statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a ceasefire, prompting initial celebrations from Palestinian civilians in Gaza.