Thousands of Israelis rallied around the country Monday night calling for an immediate deal to release the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

The protests came as Israel’s War Cabinet voted to begin an operation on the city of Rafah, saying that a cease-fire proposal Hamas accepted earlier in the night was not in line with Israeli demands.

Hamas has published a copy of the cease-fire and hostage release proposal that the militant group said it had agreed to on Monday.

The framework brought forward by Qatar and Egypt aims to bring a halt to seven months of war in Gaza. However, it's unclear if Israel will agree to the terms. The proposal outlines a phased release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza alongside the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire enclave and ending with a “sustainable calm” or “permanent cessation of military and hostile operations.”

Protesters in New York converged near the Met Gala in a rally against the ongoing war in Gaza, leading to several arrests, police said.

Among the rallying points Monday were the gates of Columbia University, which has been the center of spreading demonstrations, before protesters marched through Manhattan to American fashion's biggest night -- or at least as close as police would let them.

Hamas's armed wing said it fired rockets at Israeli troops on Tuesday at the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, already closed after previous rocket fire over the weekend.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, which claimed a rocket attack on the crossing on Sunday that killed four Israeli soldiers, said in a statement that it had "targeted the gathering of enemy forces" at Kerem Shalom in the latest attack.

Police arrested some 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam in the early hours of Tuesday, as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread into Europe.

Police in the Dutch capital said in a statement on the social media platform X that their action was "necessary to restore order" after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

IThe Israeli army said it took "operational control" of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday and that troops were scanning the area.

"Last night, IDF (army) troops managed to establish operational control of the Gazan side of (Rafah) crossing," the main entry point for aid deliveries to the besieged territory, the military said in a briefing.

The United States said Monday it was reviewing a response from Hamas to a ceasefire proposal as it renewed calls on Israel not to attack the packed Gaza city of Rafah.

"I can confirm that Hamas has issued a response. We are reviewing that response now and discussing it with our partners in the region," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Hamas on Monday said it had accepted a proposal for a truce in the seven-month-old war in Gaza, after Israel told Palestinians in Rafah to evacuate ahead of a long-threatened invasion of the city.

The Hamas announcement brought cheering crowds onto the street amid tears of happiness, chants of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") and celebratory shooting in the air.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country's annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: "If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone."

The message, delivered in a setting that typically avoids politics, was aimed at the growing chorus of world leaders who have criticized the heavy toll caused by Israel's military offensive against Hamas militants and have urged the sides to agree to a cease-fire.

Israel has ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite news network to close, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance.

The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel's reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in Israel.