Israel plans to launch an offensive on Rafah next month if Hamas does not release the remaining hostages in Gaza by the start of Ramadan, Israeli military cabinet member Benny Gantz said.
Gantz, a retired military chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse:
“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area.”
According to the Times of Israel, Gantz made similar comments on Friday about the timing, but otherwise the Israeli government has not previously given a deadline for the planned offensive on the city, where most of the 1.7 million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.
Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims, is expected to begin on 10 March.
Gantz stressed that the offensive would be conducted in coordination with the Americans and Egyptians to facilitate evacuations and “minimise civilian casualties as much as possible”. But where to safely relocate people in the besieged Gaza Strip remains unclear.
Fears for civilians have prompted foreign governments and humanitarian organisations to repeatedly urge Israel not to enter Rafah, the last major city not captured by ground troops in the four-month war.
Despite the mounting international pressure, including a direct appeal from US President Joe Biden, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the war cannot be completed without pressing into Rafah.
According to recent surveys, Gantz is more popular than Netanyahu among Israelis and is considered the most suitable candidate to become the next prime minister. His National Unity party is polling far ahead of Netanyahu’s Likud.
The Gaza war began when Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostages. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
