Israeli Premier Netanyahu says army to invade Rafah on set date

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said there is a defined date that is set for the Israeli army to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the last remaining area in the enclave where Tel Aviv has not yet formally announced the entry of its troops to continue the onslaught against Palestinians.

In a video message aired by Israeli public broadcaster KAN, Netanyahu said Israel would not be able to defeat Hamas unless it entered Rafah and defeated its remaining brigades.

"We are working to achieve our goals all the time," he said, before going on to say, "Primarily releasing all our hostages and achieving total victory over Hamas."

While public pressure grows in Israel for Netanyahu to reach a hostage swap deal with Hamas, ultra-Orthodox members of his coalition government are pressuring him not to do so.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday threatened to topple the government if Netanyahu ends the war on Gaza without attacking Rafah.

Several countries, including the US, have urged Israel to abandon plans for a military offensive against Rafah, which is home to nearly 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.

Earlier on Monday, following extensive meetings, both the Israeli and Hamas delegations left Cairo after being engaged in indirect talks through the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Tel Aviv believes 134 Israelis are being held in Gaza, while Israel is holding not less than 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are taking place in Cairo and Doha, intending to reach a deal that includes a hostage/prisoner swap in which Israeli captives are released in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Over 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 181st day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

On March 25, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the cease-fire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar