Netanyahu assured that the operation in Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas and Biden asked him to guarantee the security of the population

All local and international eyes are on the visit of CIA Director William Burns to Cairo this Tuesday to try to halt ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas and the results of the fighting and attacks in Khan Yunis. are focused on Refa,

Israeli Prime Minister, benjamin netanyahu He believes that the armed wing of Hamas has to be completely eliminated. an operation is necessary In this area located near border with egypt, The Islamist group’s last stronghold – if Israel eliminates Khan Younis – is also the place where more than half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents are crammed in. More than one million people displaced from the north and center will come in the wake of the devastating israeli military attack Launched after the jihadist attack on 7 October.

“I can’t explain how we feel. I’m so confused. My children keep asking me when Israel will attack Rafah, where we will go and whether we will die. I have no answers,” Maryam, a Palestinian who fled, said she was in her home in Gaza with her three children, ages 5, 7 and 9, according to Reuters.

Despite internal pressure exerted by the families of the 136 abducted people to allow an agreement for their release after 128 days of captivity and external (regional, European and especially American) efforts to temporarily end the war. Netanyahu maintained his stance. intention to carry out ground action in rafah After the “safe” evacuation of its residents Of war zones. “Victory is within reach. We’re going to do it.” let’s reach the terrorist battalions Hamas remains in Rafah, its last stronghold. we will do it providing safe passage to the population So that he can leave,” he said in an interview with American network ABC. Netanyahu, who outnumbered Yahia Sinwar’s group in Rafah by four battalions, said: “Those who say we should not enter Rafah are basically saying let’s leave Hamas there and lose the war. “

“A military operation in Rafah Should not be implemented without a credible plan And implementable to guarantee protection and assistance for the more than one million people taking refuge there,” US President Joe Biden warned them in a telephone conversation this Sunday night, in which he called for increased humanitarian assistance ” Urged immediate and specific” steps to Gaza’s citizens and reiterated its support for “defeating Hamas to provide long-term security to the Israeli people.” Negotiations on the release of abducted people – mediated by the US, Qatari and Egyptian Under – waiting for progress in the coming days – also occupied a significant part of their 45-minute conversation. In this sense, Hamas reported this Sunday that two hostages were killed in an Israeli airstrike in recent days. Israel, for its part, believes that 31 hostages have died.

Great concern about a possible Israeli incursion into Rafah is shared by its great ally (the US), its main European partners (Germany and France), whose Foreign Ministry warned that “a large-scale Israeli offensive would lead to a catastrophic humanitarian situation.” Will produce.” New dimension unfair” ) and Arab countries that have already signed peace and normalized relations (Egypt, Jordan or the United Arab Emirates) or were close to doing so before 7-O (Saudi Arabia). For Cairo, this An operation of this caliber could not only change the stability of its border with the Gaza Strip, but also, Egyptian sources warn, significantly damage the peace agreement with Israel. This Sunday, security agencies of both countries There has been intensive contact between the representatives.

The Israeli army hopes that, in addition to the tunnels of the so-called Philadelphia Corridor and other reasons for neutralizing the area, if it eventually carries out the incursion, it will be only after meeting two requirements that seem very complex today: Evacuation, once again, of civilians and an agreement with Cairo. At present Egypt is strongly opposing it.

United Nations warned that civilians must be protected in the event of any operation in Rafah and expressed Fear of death of large number of civilians In such a densely populated area, “opposing large-scale forced displacement of people, which is by definition against their will.”

Hamas, for its part, calls for international intervention to stop Israeli plans in Rafah and warns that an incursion would “blow up” negotiations for a ceasefire and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.