© AFP
An Israeli army ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, halts negotiations on a hostage release deal. This is what a leader of the radical Palestinian organization Hamas said to its own TV channel Al-Aqsa. Several Israeli media, including The Jerusalem Post, reported on the threat on Sunday.
Sunday, February 11, 2024 at 1:35 PM
According to the same source, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to get out of a hostage deal “by committing genocide and creating a new humanitarian catastrophe in Rafah.”
It is estimated that there are still more than a hundred hostages in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas fighters captured during their large-scale attack on Israel on October 7.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, appears determined to launch a ground offensive on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where an estimated 1 million Palestinians have fled since the start of the war. He promised the citizens a safe evacuation, but his plan has received a lot of international criticism.