Egypt has delivered a message to Hamas warning that it has only two weeks to reach prisoner exchange agreement. According to the Wall Street Journal, should the organization fail to reach an agreement, Israel will begin a large-scale ground offensive into the Rafah region in southern Gaza.
According to the report, Egypt is exceptionally worried about the possibility that tens of thousands of Gazans will attempt to cross the Egyptian border when the operation begins. In light of this, Egypt has established multiple fortifications on its northern border and clarified to Israeli officials that any operation in Rafah must be limited in its scope, as further escalation is likely to endanger the agreements between Israel and Egypt.
Earlier, Hamas warned that an Israeli offensive into the city would mean the collapse of any negotiations for a prisoner exchange agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was formulating a "detailed plan" to evacuate civilians from Rafah in southern Gaza even as victory against the Hamas terrorist organization in the city is "within reach" in an interview with ABC News that will be aired today (Sunday).
“Victory is within reach. We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions and Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we’re going to do it,” Netanyahu said in published excerpts from the interview on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave,” he explained. “We are working out a detailed plan to do so. We’re not, we’re not cavalier about this.”
Four Hamas battalions are currently holed up in Rafah, along with hundreds of thousands of Gazans who fled the fighting in other parts of the coastal enclave.
The Biden Administration has stated that it would not support a military operation in Rafah and that such a move would be a "disaster" despite the fact that failing to engage militarily in Rafah would allow Hamas to survive and prolong the conflict with the genocidal terrorist organization.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also opposed any military operation against Hamas in Rafah.