Hamas on Monday said it accepts a proposal for a truce in the seven-month-old war in Gaza, as Israel renewed an order for 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’s office said the proposal “is far from Israel’s essential demands”, but the government will send negotiators for talks “to exhaust the potential for arriving at an agreement”. Close …