Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 6, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Monday, May 6, 2024
Israel says Hamas offer does not meet essential demands, will keep negotiating, is moving forward with Rafah op
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
An Israeli Defense Forces tank drives away from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/ Tsafrir Abayov)
Israel’s war cabinet decides unanimously to push ahead with an 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,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.
The statement says Hamas’s latest truce offer is “far from Israel’s essential demands.”
Nonetheless, Israel is going to 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,” says the PMO.
