Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for a long-anticipated military operation in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to his office.
Israel’s war against Hamas, which began following Hamas-led massacres in Israel on October 7, started with airstrikes on Gaza and then a ground offensive in the north of the coastal territory.
The Israeli army then moved southwards in its attempt to completely eliminate the terrorist group. Netanyahu has said that “total victory” over Hamas is not possible without an operation in Rafah, which lies on the border with Egypt.
The move comes despite growing international criticism and warnings from key Israeli allies, as more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering there after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the strip.
Politicians and aid groups are calling on Israel to draw up plans on how and where the people in the Rafah area can be brought to safety before any military operation.
An Israeli army spokesman said earlier on Friday that the military would make sure civilians are safe.
Spokesman Arye Shalicar said that in the event of an operation in Rafah, the civilians would be evacuated to safer places such as the al-Mawasi camp. “That is what we have been doing in recent months and that is exactly how we would operate when it comes to Rafah,” he said.
He stressed however that leaders of Hamas were suspected to be in the city, along with many remaining fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group.
On Friday, Netanyahu also reiterated his assessment that a recent proposal by Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza war was “unrealistic.”
An Israeli delegation is nevertheless travelling to Doha after a debate in the security cabinet on Israel’s position.
Hamas said on Thursday that it had submitted a new proposal, including an end to the fighting in Gaza, aid deliveries for the population and the release of people kidnapped from Israel in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
However, the Islamists continue to insist on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which Israel is refusing.
Arab television channel Al Jazeera reported on Friday that Hamas had presented a proposal in three phases of 42 days each. Hamas set the condition that a permanent ceasefire be announced with the second phase, before the release of Israeli soldiers. For every Israeli soldier, 50 Palestinian prisoners in Israel, including 30 with life sentences, were to be released.
Meanwhile, the deaths from the war continue to mount, with each side blaming the other for an incident on Thursday evening.
Palestinian reports said that at least 20 people were killed in an attack in the northern Gaza Strip late on Thursday.
The Hamas-controlled health authority said Israeli troops had fired on people waiting at a roundabout. More than 150 other people were injured, according to the health authority.
The Israeli army gave a different account, and said it had enabled a convoy of 31 lorries carrying humanitarian aid to travel to the north of the Gaza Strip the previous day.
“Approximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy to the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy,” the statement said.
The information from the war zone could not be independently verified.
The terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 left more than 1,200 people in the Israeli border area dead, and some 250 kidnapped.
According to the Hamas health authority, more than 31,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip since then.
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