Israel has set a deadline to attack the southern Palestinian city of Rafah in the besieged Gaza Strip. If the rest of the Israelis held hostage by the armed group Hamas are not released, they will attack there at the beginning of Ramadan. The country announced this amid international pressure to protect Palestinian civilians who have taken refuge in the city. The French news agency AFP reported this news on Monday (February 19).
Retired military chief Benny Gantz is one of the members of Israel’s three-man war cabinet. At a conference with American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday, he said, ‘The people of the world, and certainly the leaders of Hamas, need to know: if our hostages do not return home by Ramadan, war will sound everywhere, including in the Rafah area.’
He also said, ‘Hamas has an opportunity. If they surrender, Gaza civilians will be able to celebrate Ramadan if the hostages are released.’
A permanent ceasefire or a humanitarian pause in Gaza The possibility of negotiation is slowly fading away. The UN Security Council has voted twice on this issue. Each time the US vetoed the proposal. A vote is expected to take place again on Tuesday. This time also the country has indicated to veto this proposal.
But the United States and other governments around the world, along with the United Nations, are issuing increasingly urgent appeals to Israel to stop its planned attack on Rafah.
The Israeli government claims that the city of Gaza, which borders Egypt, has the remaining stronghold of the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
Rafah City is home to three-quarters of Gaza’s displaced Palestinian population. They are spending inhumane days under vast tents in the absence of sufficient food, water and medicine.
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