Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, has assured that plans to launch a massive attack on the Gazan city of Rafah, the last refuge of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians expelled from other parts of the enclave by Israeli bombings, will be automatically suspended in the moment it reaches an agreement with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to release the hostages it holds.
“The release of the hostages represents a key issue for us, so yes: if there is an agreement, we will suspend the operation,” he said in an interview given this past Saturday to Channel 12 of Israeli television.
Katz confirms what official Israeli sources reported to the country’s media this past Saturday: that the new offer presented in the last few hours to Hamas is the final opportunity that the Palestinian organization has to accept a ceasefire or, otherwise, the Israeli Army will launch its major offensive on the city.
In statements to the newspaper ‘Yedioth Aharonoth’, an Israeli official described the latest talks with Hamas, under the mediation of Egypt and Qatar, as “very good and characterized by their progress in all parameters” before warning of the seriousness of the situation. .
“Hamas is being told, through Egypt, that there are very serious intentions to attack Rafah,” this source warned, while other Israeli officials declared to Channel 12 of national television that this proposal is, directly, the “last opportunity.” that Hamas will have before the operation.
“Either agreement now, or Rafá,” this Channel 12 source has warned before stating that the Israeli Army is absolutely convinced that this is where the person considered to be the architect of the October 7 massacre in Israel is hiding, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
However, there is no consensus in the Israeli war cabinet on this position. According to Kan News, on Friday, the two main ultra exponents of the Israeli Government, ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, threatened during a meeting of the high-level security cabinet that if the Rafah offensive was canceled, they would end up resigning from their positions. in the Executive.