(Jerusalem) The Israeli government says it is “advancing” preparations for its planned military operation on Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where according to it four battalions of fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are grouped.
“Israel is moving forward with its operation targeting Hamas in Rafah,” government spokesperson David Mencer said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “The four battalions remaining in Rafah cannot escape Israel, they will be attacked.”
Mr Mencer added that “two brigades of reservists” had been mobilized for “defensive and tactical missions in Gaza”.
Since the start of the ground offensive in the Palestinian territory on October 27, “at least 18 or 19 of the 24 battalions” of Hamas have been defeated, he continued.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly declared that Israel intends to carry out an assault on Rafah, a city where hundreds of thousands of Gazans, displaced by the war, are refugees.
Mr. Netanyahu insists that the annihilation of the last Hamas battalions in Rafah is crucial in pursuing the objectives of the war against Hamas, the Islamist movement which has taken power in the coastal territory since 2007.
Driven by the fighting and destruction in the rest of the Gaza Strip, more than a million Palestinians have found refuge in Rafah – a city of some 250,000 inhabitants – and are crowding into tents and public buildings.
But NGOs and a growing number of countries – and even the historic American ally – oppose this operation, fearing that it will cause numerous civilian victims.
Hamas, for its part, repeated its demand for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which at this stage of the war is unacceptable for Mr. Netanyahu and his government who have sworn to “annihilate” the movement.
“At least 26,000 terrorists have been killed, apprehended, or injured in the fighting,” Mr. Mencer said.
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented Hamas attack in southern Israel, which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
In response, Israel promised to annihilate Hamas and launched a massive offensive that has so far left 34,262 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.