“This will happen”
Netanyahu: Date set for Rafah offensive
April 8, 2024, 8:55 p.m
The USA strongly opposes an Israeli invasion of Rafah. Regardless of this, Prime Minister Netanyahu has now announced that Israel has set a specific date for the offensive. Washington says it doesn’t know anything yet.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the date for the offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip has been set. “Victory requires taking Rafah and eliminating the terrorist battalions there,” he said in a statement. “This will happen, there is a date.”
The US government said it had not yet been given a date for the start of an Israeli offensive in Rafah. In any case, people are against a full-scale invasion, says US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. The US has “made it clear to Israel that we believe that a major military invasion of Rafah would have immensely damaging effects on these civilians and ultimately harm Israel’s security,” Miller told reporters.
“It’s not just about Israel presenting us with a plan,” Miller continued. “We made it clear to them that we think there is a better way to achieve the legitimate goal, which is to weaken and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that remain in Rafah.”
March for Biden “red line”
According to Israel, the city on the border with Egypt is the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the Palestinian territory. There are more than 1.5 million refugee residents of the Gaza Strip there. The US and Germany have repeatedly warned Israel against a large-scale ground offensive in Rafah. US President Joe Biden had made it clear to Netanyahu that an invasion there without first evacuating civilians would be a “red line” for him.
Meanwhile, the right-wing extremist partners in Netanyahu’s coalition had increased the pressure on the head of government. After Israeli troops withdrew from southern Gaza, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partner Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X: “If the prime minister decides to end the war without a broad attack on Rafah to decisively defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue to serve as head of government.”
USA: Proposal made to Hamas
Meanwhile, the USA sees the radical Islamic Hamas in control of the negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. During the talks in Cairo, “a proposal was made to Hamas at the end of the weekend,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “Now it is up to Hamas to implement this proposal.”
Since the weekend, Israel and Hamas have been negotiating again under the mediation of the USA, Egypt and Qatar on an agreement for the release of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The state-affiliated Egyptian television channel Al-Kahera News reported, citing a senior Egyptian official, that the talks had made “significant progress” on several contentious points of the agreement under discussion.
The indirect conversations were “serious,” Kirby said. But it is still too early to say whether they will bear fruit. “We have made a proposal to Hamas and are waiting for Hamas’ response,” Kirby said. He did not provide further details about the content of the proposal. An Israeli government official said, “We don’t see an agreement on the horizon yet,” according to an Israeli media report.
Meanwhile, there are conflicting reports about Hamas’ reaction. A representative of the radical Islamic group initially rejected alleged “progress” in the talks. However, the AFP news agency claims to have learned from Hamas circles that the terrorist organization is currently examining a proposal for a mediator. Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Hamas official Ali Baraka, that Hamas rejected the latest proposal for a ceasefire.