Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the military will launch a ground operation on Gaza’s far-southern Rafah city with or without a truce deal with Hamas.
The Israeli premier issued the warning despite strong concerns raised by the main ally United States and just hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to arrive in Israel on his current Middle East crisis tour.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question”, Netanyahu continued, who had threatened to destroy Hamas following their October 7 attack, which sparked the deadliest Gaza war ever.
“We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, to achieve total victory”, the Israeli Prime Minister told families of some of the captives still detained in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s remarks came as Hamas was considering the latest plan for a truce proposed in Cairo talks with United States, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators, which had raised cautious expectations for an end to the conflict.
The Palestinian Hamas group announced that it was considering a 40-day cease-fire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
“The Islamist group, whose envoys returned from Cairo talks to its stronghold in Qatar, would discuss the ideas and the proposal”, a Hamas source said, adding that “we are eager to respond as soon as possible”.
According to the sources in Egypt, Hamas envoys were expected to return with a written response.
An Israeli official stated, “The government will wait for answers until Wednesday night, and then make a decision whether to send negotiators to Cairo”.
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