2024-02-21 00:45:56
US officials are confident about a humanitarian pause in the Gaza war ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. There is “great hope” for an early agreement on the release of hostages held by Hamas in return for a pause in fighting, two Democratic US senators said after talks with the Israeli leadership in Jerusalem and Jordan’s King Abdullah. Israel’s ground offensive in Rafah before Ramadan is considered unlikely.
Arab countries, led by Jordan, have expressed concern that Israel’s sustained offensive against Hamas during the holy month of Ramadan could further inflame tensions in the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously said Israel was not prepared to pay any price for the release of the hostages. The way to release the hostages is to increase military pressure on the Gaza Strip and defeat Hamas.
Israel’s planned military offensive on the southern Gaza town of Rafah before Ramadan is unlikely, according to a media report. An unnamed senior US official told the Times of Israel this assessment. As the newspaper reported on Tuesday evening, Israel’s army is still in the process of completing major operations in the town of Khan Younis north of Rafah, which has been hotly contested for weeks.
At the same time, it is planned to bring the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians to safety in Rafah before the military takes action there against the remaining Hamas battalions. Implementing such a plan, including mechanisms to support people after being placed in other locations, would take weeks, the official was quoted as saying.
The newspaper, citing an Israeli official, further reported that the army planned to house the civilians in Rafah, an area to the north between Khan Younis and the Wadi Gaza riverbed, which separates north and south Gaza. According to the U.S. official, if Israel does not begin this effort before Ramadan, which begins around March 10, the army could be forced to wait until after the holy month of fasting for Muslims, they said.
In Rafah, the Israeli army is preparing for an invasion in order to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions and free suspected hostages there. However, the Israeli government has not yet issued an operational order. Military action in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt is highly controversial because around 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded there in a small area, most of whom had already fled the fighting in other parts of the coastal area. Aid organizations point to a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
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