Hamas-Israel, Rafah is surrounded. But Egypt is trying to revive negotiations to stop the offensive

The Israeli army is pressing the deadline for its offensive Rafaha city south of the Gaza Strip, currently considered a stronghold of Hamas but where there are over a million Palestinians who have fled the North. Some images released in the last few hours by Maxar Technologies show rows of tents built near Rafah on April 23, precisely in Khan Younis, decimated during an air and land campaign that lasted months. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s government Benjamin Netanyahu he said Israel is “moving forward” with an operation Of Earthbut gave no timeline.

Because Israel wants to speed up the offensive on Rafah

The desire to speed up the operation was apparently triggered after Hamas released a video of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 24-year-old Israeli-American hostage kidnapped by Nova Festival during the group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7. The young man, whose arm was amputated, said in the video that there were 70 hostages killed in the Israeli bombings and demanded that Netanyahu’s government bring home those who survived. The video is undated, but appears to have been filmed within the last few days as Goldberg-Polin said he was held captive for “almost 200 days.”

According to Israel, the Hamas leadership is located in Rafah, using Israeli hostages as human shields, therefore a ground operation was necessary for the “total victory” on the Islamist organization and to bring the hostages home.

But the long-threatened plan to attack the city south of Sri Lanka has sparked strong opposition from the allies of Tel Aviv, including the States Unitedwho said this would cause thousands of civilian casualties and would further disrupt aid deliveries. “We had very in-depth discussions to express not only our concerns, but also our view that there is a different way to address the Hamas threat in Rafah,” the US national security adviser told reporters in Washington Jake Sullivan.

Egypt attempts to revive negotiations for a ceasefire and release of hostages

To avoid such a situation, too Egypt is trying to revive i negotiations. Cairo, in fact, according to Israeli officials, cited by Ynetfears Palestinian “war refugees” who might enter Sinai following the Israeli assault on Rafah, so is in a hurry to propose a agreement to Hamas in the hope of obtaining the postponement of the attack. Already Today an Egyptian delegation is expected in Israel to resume talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire temporary agreement between Israel and Hamas and the release of the hostages; it will be led by Abbas Kamel, the powerful head of Egyptian intelligence. According to the Qatari newspaper Al-Arabi Al-JadidKamel will meet with Mossad chief David Barnea and national security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi.