Israel sets Ramadan deadline for Hamas: ‘Return hostages or face ground offensive in Rafah’ | 10 things to know
Israel-Hamas war: Benny Gantz, a minister of Israel's war cabinet has warned Hamas that they must return all the hostages by March 10 or Israeli forces will launch a ground invasion in Rafah. The warning came as the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza are seeking refugee in Rafah, a small city close to the Egypt border. The international agencies have raised concerns that any attack on Rafah will lead to a “massacre." The death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza has crossed 28,000 and the peace proposals moved by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States are not creating much movement on the ground.
While Israel's closest ally, the US has repeatedly warned the Benjamin Netanyahu-led regime to stop the killings of civilians, the Israeli forces have continued their indiscriminate attacks. 1. The Israeli government has warned Hamas to free the hostages by Ramadan, which begins on March 10, or the IDF will launch its ground offensive against Rafah.
Tel Aviv said that they have reliable intelligence that most of the hostages are kept in Rafah. 2. Benny Gantz said that Israel is working with its allies like the United States in a coordinated manner to evacuate common citizens and minimize civilian casualties.
3. The remarks came as Egypt has cleared that they won't allow any Palestinian refugees on their territory. Cairo raised concerns about the Israel-Hamas war shifting to Rafah as it can push the Palestinian people in Egypt.
4. Earlier, several sources from Israel claimed that the government wants to push out Palestinians from Gaza so that they can launch a resettlement plan and Israeli citizens can go back to the territory. 5.
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