Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that a date for an invasion into Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, has been set, according to a video posted on his official Telegram account. He didn’t specify the date.
The prime minister also said that “entry into Rafah” was necessary for a “complete victory over Hamas”.
Netanyahu’s comments come after Israel announced it had withdrawn from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fierce fighting that left much of the city in ruins.
Rafah, where about 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be sheltering, is located in the southernmost part of the besieged enclave.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.
Over 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahry has told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s remarks that a Rafah attack is imminent “raises questions about the purpose of resuming negotiations”.
“The success of any negotiations depends on ending the aggression,” said Zahry, adding that the group’s “demands are clear: an end to aggression against our people”.
