Even as the White House pressures Israel — including by halting arms deliveries — the first signal that the terrorist organization is ready to deal came only after Israel defied Washington and launched an initial attack on Rafah.  

Unidentified Jerusalem officials told Israeli reporters that a “cease-fire” deal that Hamas agreed to was offered by Qatar and Egypt “behind our backs,” and that Israel had already rejected it. “We are seriously studying every offer to release our hostages,” the Israel Defense Force spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said nevertheless.

At the same time, he added, Israel is continuing preparations for an attack at Rafah. The Israeli move there was a reaction to an attack Sunday on the main entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Late Monday, Israeli forces attacked what was described as limited targets at Rafah.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the barrage of mortars launched from Rafah at the Kerem Shalom crossing. The barrage killed four IDF soldiers and injured several others. Israel quickly blocked traffic at the crossing, raising concerns at the White House.   

A pending attack on Rafah seemed to have rattled the terrorist organization. Hamas’s Doha headquarters issued a hasty announcement that, as a former IDF spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, writes on X, “looks like textbook deception: approving a deal that isn’t on the table in order to apply pressure on Israel to accept Hamas terms.”

Washington is yet to study Hamas’s statement, the Department of State’s spokesmen, Matthew Miller, said. For two weeks Hamas had rejected what Secretary Blinken said was a “very generous” Israeli proposal for a deal. Yet, even now, “We do not support Israeli full scale attack on Rafah,” Mr. Miller said Monday.  

The IDF nevertheless dropped leaflets over Rafah Monday morning, indicating that an attack is nearing. “We are urging residents to move to designated areas,” Admiral Hagari said. In response, Hamas’s chief, Ismail Hanyieh, told Qatar that Hamas is now agreeing to the framework for a cease-fire that Egypt and Qatar have proposed. 

While Hamas’s latest move could be a “ruse,” as some Israelis called it, it mostly seemed like a hasty reaction to the Israeli readiness to act at Rafah in defiance of Mr. Biden’s pressure.  

Alarmed at the Rafah leaflet drops, Mr. Biden placed an emergency phone call to Prime Minister Netanyahu, urging him to forgo a military operation. “A hostage deal is the best way to preserve the lives of the hostages and avoid an invasion of Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering,” administration officials told reporters ahead of the call.  

“I don’t understand why the Americans are leading Israel by the nose like that,” a political analyst at Kan News, Samuel Rosner, said earlier. “For weeks, they are holding the Israelis back even as they’re failing to deliver” on the promise to release hostages through diplomacy.  

Following the conversation, the White House said in a statement that Mr. Netanyahu promised to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing. The attack there followed weeks of a near-complete halt of Israeli military activity in the Strip.

The halt, under tremendous Washington pressure, was to facilitate American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators who have worked to facilitate the release of some of the 132 hostages, which Hamas had kidnapped on October 7, in return for a cease-fire. Over the weekend, Axios reported that Washington halted a delivery of ammunition to Israel. Officials declined to specify the reason, which could have been a preemptive warning against a Rafah attack. 

Following the Kerem Shalom attack, Israel has “no choice left” but to operate at Rafah, the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, told Secretary Austin Monday morning. Despite “the many efforts that Israel is making to reach an agreement for the release of hostages and a temporary ceasefire, at this stage Hamas refuses any proposal that would allow this,” Mr. Gallant’s office said in a statement. 

By constantly announcing Mr. Biden’s opposition to a Rafah operation, the administration disincentivized Hamas to reach a deal. Now that Israel is ready to attack its remaining redoubt, the terrorist organization claims to be on board with a deal.  

“Bibi and Biden have been at each other’s throats for decades,” Mr. Rosner said. “Bibi no longer listens to what Biden says, and Biden has lost all confidence in Bibi.”

Washington’s weakening support, even as Israel battles enemies that swear to its destruction, signals to other democracies to add pressure on the Israelis to allow Hamas to survive in Gaza.

“Israel’s evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said. No matter how unacceptable, Hamas’s announcement Monday is bound to intensify that pressure.

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This article has been updated from the bulldog.