Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that preparations are underway to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, but that this move “will take some time.”
Netanyahu said in a statement that he would soon approve a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians from combat zones after giving the green light to plans for military operations in Rafah.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s insistence on moving forward with his plan to invade Rafah comes at a time when the parties to the conflict are meeting in the current round of Doha negotiations to try to reach a ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners and detainees between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli sources familiar with the progress of the talks confirmed that the first day’s negotiations were positive, but they expected the talks to be difficult and long due to many points of contention between the two parties, which prompted the head of the Mossad to return to Tel Aviv in order to inform the Israeli government of the progress of the talks.
Talks regarding a ceasefire resumed this week in Qatar, but the negotiations that have been ongoing for weeks have so far failed to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas that Washington hopes will ease the humanitarian crisis ravaging the Strip.
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