Israel is ready to enter Rafah if Hamas does not sign the ceasefire agreement. Senior Israeli officials fear that a warrant could be issued by the International Criminal Court in their name

Negotiating teams are meeting in Cairo today. A Hamas official told the AP there were no major dissensions. On the other side, for the first time, Israel made it clear that it would agree to a total ceasefire, but Hamas must release at least 20 hostages, women, children, the elderly and the sick. Today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the region on his seventh diplomatic mission to also negotiate a ceasefire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz signaled on Saturday that Israel would be willing to call off an invasion of Rafah if Hamas accepts the hostage deal. “If there is an agreement, we will suspend the operation,” he told Israel’s Channel 12.

Attempts to convince Israel to abandon an invasion of the city of Rafah have become increasingly intense, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden speaking at length about the situation Sunday night for nearly an hour.

During the conversation, Biden reiterated his support for Israel’s security and discussed options for the return of the hostages.

The deal currently on the table calls for the release of about 20 hostages over the course of three weeks, in exchange for the release of about 500 Palestinian detainees and the return of 300,000 people to the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Wall Street Journal.

After the three-week ceasefire, a ten-week truce will take effect, an Egyptian source told Maariv. During this time, Israel and Hamas will be expected to reach a long-term ceasefire agreement, which would see the withdrawal of Israeli forces from their disengagement positions in the Strip. However, the IDF will still be able to stop and check Palestinians crossing into the North.

Israel has instructed its embassies abroad to prepare for a severe anti-Semitic backlash should the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants against top Israeli leaders and the military for their actions in Gaza, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi.

The ICC has not issued any official statement on ongoing actions, as its chief prosecutor Karim Khan confirmed in November 2023 that it was investigating the situation in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including actions related to the Israel-Hamas war that began on 7 October. Israel fears that Chief Prosecutor Khan plans to issue arrest warrants in the near future, possibly as early as this week.