Rafah offensive ‘with or without’ Gaza truce
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday vowed that the military would launch a ground offensive on Gaza's far-southern Rafah city "with or without" a truce deal being negotiated with Hamas.
The hawkish premier issued the warning despite strong concerns raised by top ally Washington and hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to arrive in Israel on his latest Middle East crisis tour.
"The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question," said Netanyahu.
"We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory," he told families of some of the hostages still being held in Gaza, his office said.
Netanyahu's comments came as Hamas was weighing the latest plan for a truce proposed in Cairo talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators that had raised cautious hopes for an end to the fighting.
The Palestinian militant group said it was considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
The group, whose envoys returned from Cairo talks to their base in Qatar, would "discuss the ideas and the proposal", said a Hamas source, adding that "we are keen to respond as quickly as possible".
Sources in Egypt earlier told Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services, that Hamas envoys were due to "return with a written response".
An Israeli official told AFP the government "will wait for answers until Wednesday night", and then "make a decision" whether to send negotiators to Cairo.
Washington has strongly backed its ally but also pressured it to refrain from a ground invasion of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians, and to do more to protect the territory's 2.4 million people.
President Joe Biden, facing rising fury on US university campuses, urged the Egyptian and Qatari leaders Monday "to exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas".
Biden called this "the only obstacle" to securing relief for Gaza's civilians, who the UN has warned are on the brink of famine.
As diplomacy continued, Israel kept up its bombardment that has flattened swathes of Gaza.
An AFP correspondent reported several air strikes in Gaza City, Khan Yunis and Rafah as well as overnight artillery shelling.
The Israeli military said "fighter jets struck a number of terror targets in central Gaza".
Palestinians in Rafah mourned the latest victims as children were being pulled from the rubble.
At Al-Najjar hospital, grief-stricken relatives jostled over the dead, whose bodies were shrouded in white.
"We demand the entire world call for a lasting truce," said one bereaved relative, Abu Taha.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he expected several European governments to announce their recognition of a Palestinian state within the next month, including Belgium, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia and Spain.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said "the two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation", without saying when they had met.
Since October 7, Israel's offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza Strip.
As the Gaza war has roiled the region and its human toll has sparked international outrage, political momentum has built in the search for a post-war solution to the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
European and Arab foreign ministers met in the Saudi capital on Monday to discuss how to join forces on advancing a two-state solution.
- China says Hamas, Fatah met for talks in Beijing
- EU says several European govts may recognise a Palestinian state by next month
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