The Israeli army is ready for the announced raid on Rafah. The troops have completed preparations for the offensive, while the date and time of the operation will have to be decided by the war cabinet. He lets it be known Haaretz. According to the testimony of a journalist fromAssociated Press, the IDF has reportedly massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles along the border with the Gaza Strip, in what appears to be preparations for the invasion of the border town with Egypt, which Israel considers the last Hamas stronghold and where around 1.4 million Palestinian civilians have found refuge. Through a tactical repositioning, the IDF also recalled the Nahal brigade, the last remaining in the south after the withdrawal of ground troops on April 7, from the Gaza Strip to rebuild the area. Israel Times – to prepare for the upcoming operation with the rest of the 162nd Division which, according to the army, is already approaching Rafah from central Gaza. For Egypt, the Israeli military presence in the border town “would constitute a violation of the peace treaty and Cairo's response would be decisive,” a well-informed source told the Egyptian site. Al Ahram.
Cairo location
Egypt has in fact reaffirmed its categorical rejection of any attempt at an Israeli invasion of the Palestinian town of Rafah. The source indicated that any military presence of the Israeli occupation army in the border area between Egypt and Israel, known as Area D (which corresponds to Palestinian Rafah), would constitute a violation of the Egyptian peace treaty. -Israeli signed in 1979. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al Sisi also reiterated his country's opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip: “Egypt has adopted a clear position since the start of the war, rejecting the forced migration of Palestinians from their lands to Sinai. or any other place in order to preserve the Palestinian cause and ensure the safeguarding of Egyptian national security,” Sissi said in a televised message broadcast by international media.
Hostage negotiation
While everything seems ready for the imminent offensive, the United States, on the one hand, has reiterated its opposition, trying to convince Israel that there are “other ways to strike Hamas”; on the other, they brought together a coalition of 18 countries to demand “the immediate release of all hostages in Gaza as a precondition for the conclusion of a ceasefire.” According to Israeli television Channel 12 news, Israeli officials discussed today, Thursday, April 25, at the war cabinet, a more limited proposal for Hamas to release the hostages, in a bid to avoid the terror group's demand that any agreement include end of the war. The local channel is indeed talking about a “new draft agreement” which provides for the release of 20 hostages (instead of 40): women, soldiers, elderly people and people in serious condition. In this case, Israel would allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, but would not declare an end to the war. The proposal should be sent to the mediators soon.
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