News - Middle East: Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has agreed to the terms of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal while Israel continues to procrastinate and play dilly-dallying games.

Shortly after the Gaza-based resistance movement accepted the proposal after marathon negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar in Cairo, the Israeli regime went ahead with its plan to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, taking control of the border crossing.
The document of the deal, seen by various media outlets, includes a timetable for an exchange of nearly 100 Israeli captives held by Hamas with an unspecified number of Palestinians held illegally in Israeli prisons.
It also mentions an initial temporary halt in the fighting which would lead to a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal of the Israeli military forces from the blockaded territory.
In a statement on Monday, Hamas said Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its political bureau, told the Qatari prime minister and Egyptian intelligence minister that the resistance groups had accepted the terms of the truce and a prisoner-captive swap deal.
"The ball is now in Israel's court," Hamas's deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya was quoted as saying.
Hamas' announcement led to celebrations in the streets as Palestinians expected the deal to bring to a halt the seven-month devastating war that has killed more than 34,700 people so far, and displaced more than 85 percent of the besieged territory's 2.3 million population.
However, the embattled Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Monday the proposal is "far from Israel's basic requirements" and said he will send a delegation to the mediators for further talks.
Netanyahu, however, reiterated Israel's commitment to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying its war cabinet had "unanimously decided" to continue with its long-threatened assault on the city, "to exert military pressure on Hamas."
Reports revealed that overnight Israeli forces and tanks were seen near the Rafah border crossing and on Tuesday the military announced it had achieved “operational control” of the Palestinian crossing, where more than one million internally displaced people are sheltering.
The military also said it halted aid flow, falsely claiming that it was being used for “terrorist purposes.”
Here is a quick look at the truce deal put forward by Qatar and Egypt and accepted by Hamas: