Today Israeli media reported that Israel is ready to send troops to Rafah, the city in the Gaza Strip , which he considers to be the last stronghold of the Palestinian group "Hamas", and that the evacuation of Palestinian civilians displaced by the war who are hiding there is being prepared, Reuters reported.
The offensive against Rafah, delayed for several weeks due to disputes with Washington, will take place "very soon,", Israel Hayom reported, citing a decision by the Israeli government taken after negotiations to end the the fire with "Hamas" ended up in a dead end.
A number of other Israeli media carried similar reports. Some of them referred to footage on social media that appeared to show the setting up of a tent camp for Rafah evacuees.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and a spokesman for the Israeli army had no immediate comment.
The population of Rafah, located on the Egyptian border, has swelled with more than a million Palestinians who have fled other parts of the Gaza Strip during the more than half-year war. Their fate worries Western powers as well as Cairo, which has ruled out any influx of refugees to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Israel, which is under pressure given the growing humanitarian losses from the war, has promised to take measures to protect the civilian population in Rafah, notes Reuters.
Netanyahu's government claims that Rafah is home to four entire Hamas combat battalions, which it says have been reinforced by thousands of retreating fighters from the Islamist group.
According to the Netanyahu government, the victory in the war in Gaza, which began after the attack by fighters of "Hamas" in the south of Israel on October 7, is impossible without the capture of Rafah, the crushing of "Hamas" and the return of any hostages who may have been held there.
In his speech yesterday on the occasion of the 200th day of the war, the spokesman of the armed wing of "Hamas" – Brigades "Izzedine al-Qassam", Abu Ubaydah stated that Israel had achieved only "humiliation and defeat" in a campaign that Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.
According to Israeli data, on October 7, "Hamas" has killed 1,200 people and taken 253 hostages. Another 262 Israeli soldiers were killed during the ground offensive, when most of the Gaza Strip was overrun, the military said.