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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is determined to launch an offensive in Rafah.
© Abir Sultan/AP/dpa
Israel's head of government does not want to submit to any pressure.
The Rafah offensive is imminent.
And Hezbollah will also give in.
The news at a glance.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Washington - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing ahead with preparations for a ground offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations and sees “total victory” within reach.
“Not in months, but in weeks, as soon as we start the operation,” Netanyahu said on the TV program “Face the Nation” on the US television network CBS.
The Israeli military presented its plan to evacuate the civilian population and its operational plan against the Islamist Hamas to the War Cabinet in the evening, as Netanyahu's office announced on Monday night.
A plan for the provision of humanitarian aid was also approved.
No details were given in the announcement.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, an Israeli delegation will set off to Qatar on Monday for further talks at the official level of the mediating countries Qatar, Egypt and the USA about a ceasefire.
According to the media, there has been recent progress.
Netanyahu: Ceasefire would only delay Rafah offensive
The planned offensive on the city of Rafah on the border with Egypt has been heavily criticized internationally.
Even allies like the USA are calling on Israel to show restraint because in the southernmost city of the sealed-off coastal area, 1.5 million Palestinians - more than half of Gaza's population - are now sheltering from the fighting in other parts of the country in a very small space and under miserable conditions Search the coastal strip.
However, Netanyahu is determined to launch an offensive in Rafah to destroy the four remaining Hamas battalions.
If there is a ceasefire initially, “it will be delayed a little,” said the right-wing politician on the CBS television show.
“But it will happen.
If we don't have an agreement, we will do it anyway.
It has to be done.
Because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach,” he said.
Israel also wants to step up its fight against Hezbollah
At the same time, Israel wants to further increase military pressure on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon in response to their daily attacks on Israel's northern border.
“We plan to increase firepower against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating,” Defense Minister Yoav Galant said at Northern Command, the military said.
They will not be dissuaded from doing so even if there is a ceasefire in the war in southern Gaza.
Galant announced that military pressure on the militia would be increased “until Hezbollah completely withdraws” from the border with Israel.
Hezbollah is allied with Hamas, but is considered significantly more powerful.
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Since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year, Israel's conflict with Hezbollah has intensified along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The Shiite militia has established itself in the buffer zone that was established in the border area in southern Lebanon after the end of the second Lebanon war in 2006 and is firing from there into northern Israel.
Israel in turn attacks the Hezbollah positions in the buffer zone with its artillery and air force.
Israel has already warned several times that it is prepared to undertake major military operations if diplomatic efforts fail.
Negotiations on a ceasefire continue
Meanwhile, Egypt, Qatar and the USA continue to try to mediate in the Gaza war and, if possible, to achieve a ceasefire before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which should also lead to the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The holy month of Ramadan for Muslims begins around March 10th.
According to media reports, high-ranking mediator delegations recently made “significant progress” in Paris with the participation of Israel.
The indirect negotiations were scheduled to continue at official level on Sunday in the Qatari capital Doha.
Israeli government officials say 35 to 40 hostages could be released in a first phase if an agreement is reached, Israel's Kan radio reported.
These would primarily be women, children, older men and men with serious illnesses or injuries.
In return, Israel would release 300 Palestinians from Israeli prisons, it said.
The ceasefire would therefore last around six weeks.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Netanyahu is said to have made new demands.
According to this, all senior Palestinian prisoners would have to be transported to Qatar in exchange for Hamas hostages as a condition of their release, the Times of Israel reported, citing information from Channel 12.
Reports: Netanyahu makes new demands
Accordingly, Netanyahu mentioned this demand during deliberations of the war cabinet when the Israeli delegation informed about the progress in negotiations made in Paris.
He is also demanding a list of the names of the 130 hostages held by Hamas who are still alive, the Israeli news site “Ynet” reported.
Israel estimates that 100 of them are still alive.
Some officials are accusing Netanyahu of trying to torpedo the nascent deal with Hamas to appease far-right members in the government, the Times of Israel wrote.
Army spokesman: Do not want to expel Gaza population
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with Gaza.
On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people were killed.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
The high number of civilian casualties is clearly criticized internationally.
The massive destruction caused by the Israeli bombings also causes horror.
“Our job is to dismantle Hamas and bring our hostages home - not to destroy Gaza or displace its people,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari wrote in an op-ed for the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal.” .
Hagari continued: “We are waging this war with a heavy heart and are aware of the tragic loss of civilians on both sides.”
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority on Sunday, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has now risen to 29,692.
The information cannot be independently verified, but is considered sufficiently reliable by international organizations.
What will be important on Monday
The indirect negotiations for a ceasefire in the Gaza war are to be continued at official level in the Qatari capital Doha.
According to media reports, Israel is sending a delegation with a limited mandate to the emirate to discuss issues of a more technical nature, such as the amount of aid for the Gaza Strip.
dpa