Rafah may be spared from Israel’s military operation. This was revealed by Israeli sources, according to whom the release of the hostages by Hamas could smooth out the situation and avoid what the international community is clamoring not to implement. Hamas’ response is awaited.
Israel can block Rafah
“The only way to avoid entry into Rafah is to reach an agreement on the hostages.” An Israeli source told Times of Israel that there is strong international pressure so that the operation does not take place. “No one – admitted the source – wants Israel to enter Rafah”. According to the same source, in its counterproposal Israel made “major concessions”, including the return of displaced Palestinians to the northern Strip: one of Hamas’ main demands. The Islamic faction will be in Cairo tomorrow and could give its answer.
A senior Hamas official said that the group will give its response to the last counter-proposal of Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza on Monday in Egypt. “A Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya will arrive in Egypt tomorrow and will give the movement’s response to the Israeli proposal during a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials,” said the official who wished to remain anonymous.
The Israeli priority
The return of the Israeli hostages home is more important than the military operation in Rafah. This was said by Benny Gantz, war cabinet minister who – responding to the radical right leader Bezalel Smotrich – underlined that “the government would have no right to exist if its members prevented a hostage agreement.” “Entering Rafah – Gantz wrote on X – is important in our long campaign against Hamas, but the return of the hostages captured on October 7 is of much greater importance”.
Abu Mazen: “The USA can stop the attack”
The Palestinian president, Abu Mazen, declared that only the United States at this point can stop the Israeli attack on Rafah, which would constitute “the greatest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people”. “We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to stop the operation in Rafah, because America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime,” continued Abu Mazen, who is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the World Economic Forum summit. “Israel will enter Rafah in the next few days” added Abu Mazen, quoted by the Israeli media, and reiterated the need “for an end to the fighting and the provision of aid to the Strip”. As part of the Forum, the Palestinian president will meet US Secretary of States Antony Blinken.
UNRWA: “Large-scale operation in Rafah”
“Israel is preparing a large-scale military operation in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told TASS in an exclusive interview. “My fear right now is what the Israeli army intends to do, regardless of US military assistance to Israel. It appears that there is preparation for a possible large-scale military intervention in Rafah,” she said.
Source: Handle
