“We will enter Rafah” –

The balance in the Middle East has broken down and the hypothesis of a truce is increasingly less concrete. Despite incessant appeals to the contrary from international diplomacy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reiterated that the armed forces of the Jewish state will enter the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, “to eliminate Hamas”. And this, the prime minister underlined, will happen “with or without a ceasefire and an agreement on the release of the hostages”. Netanyahu, as he has done several times in recent weeks, then added that the idea of ​​ending the war before Israel has achieved its objectives “is not an option”. Therefore, Natanyahu declared during a meeting with representatives of the hostages’ families, “we will enter Rafah and annihilate all the Hamas battalions that are there – and this will happen with or without an agreement – to achieve total victory”.

“The evacuation of the population from Rafah has already begun” in view of the start of the military operation which “will happen soon” and which is supported by “all the ministers” of the government. Netanyahu declared this while meeting delegations of family members of hostages held in Gaza and relatives of killed soldiers. The prime minister, quoted by local media, then defined the possibility of an agreement with Hamas that would lead to the release of the hostages as “extremely low”. Meanwhile, the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said that the Israeli prime minister’s personal political interests are the reason why the Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip. “Your children are prisoners due to Netanyahu’s political interests”, reads the message sent by the Al-Qassam Brigades via the Telegram platform to the families of Israelis detained in Gaza. This came following Netanyahu’s statements in which he confirmed his intention to attack the city of Rafah.