{"id":15786,"date":"2024-02-20T07:46:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T07:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/20\/israeli-minister-says-ground-offensive-in-rafah-will-begin-by-ramadan-if-hostages-arent-returned\/"},"modified":"2024-02-20T07:46:34","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T07:46:34","slug":"israeli-minister-says-ground-offensive-in-rafah-will-begin-by-ramadan-if-hostages-arent-returned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/20\/israeli-minister-says-ground-offensive-in-rafah-will-begin-by-ramadan-if-hostages-arent-returned\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli minister says ground offensive in Rafah will begin by Ramadan if hostages aren\u2019t returned"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Israel will expand military operations in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah if hostages held by Hamas are not returned by the start of Ramadan, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has warned. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe world must know, and Hamas leaders must know \u2014 if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,\u201d Gantz told a gathering of American-Jewish organizations in Jerusalem on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do so in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties,\u201d the Israeli minister added. <\/p>\n

The Muslim holy month is expected to start on March 10 or 11. Israel believes that 130 hostages remain in Gaza \u2013 101 alive and 29 dead \u2013 following Hamas\u2019 October 7 attacks, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel. <\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s subsequent war on Hamas has killed more than 29,000 people and injured another 68,000 in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the enclave. <\/p>\n

Gantz\u2019s comments appear to be the clearest indication yet of a timeline around an Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are taking shelter near the Egyptian border. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo those saying the price is too high, I say this very clearly: Hamas has a choice \u2014 they can surrender, release the hostages, and the citizens of Gaza will be able to celebrate the holy holiday of Ramadan,\u201d Gantz said. <\/p>\n

The comments come amid stuttering talks aimed at securing the release of hostages and a longer-term ceasefire in Gaza. In its latest proposal, Hamas has demanded the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave and eventually a permanent end to the war, as well as the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel \u2013 including those serving life sentences \u2013 as part of any hostage deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Hamas\u2019 proposal as \u201cdelusional.\u201d <\/p>\n

Israel has said it plans to expand its ground operations into Rafah as part of its goal to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attacks. But there is growing concern that the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering there will have nowhere to go. <\/p>\n

Many in the international community, including the United States and the United Nations, have warned against Israel\u2019s operation in Rafah, with UN aid chief Martin Griffiths saying such an offensive could lead to \u201ca slaughter\u201d and leave humanitarian efforts in Gaza \u201cat death\u2019s door.\u201d <\/p>\n

Neighboring Egypt has also been on edge over Israel\u2019s possible operation, boosting its security presence at its border with the Gaza Strip with extra troops and machinery, as well as deploying more soldiers at checkpoints leading to the Rafah border. <\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s security buildup comes amid fears of the war spilling over into its territory should Israel begin its operation in Rafah. With more than half of Gaza\u2019s population sheltering just steps away from the frontier, Egypt\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson has warned that \u201ctargeting this area of the strip, which is filled with so many civilians, poses a danger.\u201d <\/p>\n

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Sunday denied that there were any kind of preparations taking place at the border, saying the reported activities were \u201cthe ordinary maintenance of our border and our border fortification.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is in no way related to providing any camps or shelter on our side of the border,\u201d Shoukry said in an interview with Sky News, stressing that displacing Palestinians out of Gaza would amount to a \u201cliquidation of the Palestinian cause.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Israel has continued to press ahead with its operation in other parts of Gaza. <\/p>\n

After days of bombardment, Israeli forces last week raided what was the largest hospital still functioning in the enclave, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, rendering it \u201ccompletely out of service\u201d and unable to handle critical cases, the Gazan health ministry said Sunday. Dozens of health care workers were arrested and some 80 patients transferred out of the hospital to an unknown location, a ministry spokesman said. Electricity has been cut off and seven people have so far died as a result, the spokesman added. <\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it had credible evidence that Hamas had previously held hostages at the hospital, and that the bodies of deceased hostages may be at the medical complex. <\/p>\n

Hamas said it had \u201cno business\u201d in the hospital. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel will expand military operations in the southernmost Gazan city of Rafah if hostages held by Hamas are not returned by the start of Ramadan, war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has warned. \u201cThe world must know, and Hamas leaders must know \u2014 if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15787,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}