Netanyahu says Israel will enter Rafah 'with or without' hostage deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that Israel would not wait for a hostage deal to be reached to launch an offensive in Rafah.

“The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all its objectives is out of the question,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office read.

The Israeli prime minister’s announcement comes at a time when the world is pinning hope on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal on a ceasefire in Gaza as Egypt, Qatar and the US have undertaken new efforts for both the parties to agree.

Hamas has said that it is preparing a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the release of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.

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The Palestinian terror group, whose envoys returned from Cairo talks to their base in Qatar, said it would “discuss the ideas and the proposal,” adding that the group is “keen to respond as quickly as possible”.

Palestinian president’s appeal to US

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is banking on the United States to convince Israel not to expand its offensive to Rafah, where more than a million people are currently taking refuge.

“We appeal to the United States of America to ask Israel to stop the Rafah operation because America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime,” Abbas said, adding that even a “small strike” in Rafah would force Gazans to flee the region.

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Washington has strongly backed Israel but also pressured it to refrain from a ground invasion of Gaza’s far-southern city of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians, and to do more to protect the territory’s 2.4 million people.

US ‘hopeful’ Hamas would accept peace offering

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said he was hopeful Hamas would accept Israel’s “extraordinarily generous” offer to cease the Gaza offensive in exchange of hostages.

“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Blinken said in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum.

Similarly, Egypt, one of the mediating parties, also said he was “hopeful” about a new proposal for a truce in Gaza as a Hamas delegation was due in Cairo for talks.

With inputs from agencies