By Ingy Ashraf,
According to Reuters Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the occupation forces to get prepared to enter Rafah, meanwhile, a new round of talks to secure a ceasefire with Hamas were about to begin in Cairo on Thursday.
Netanyahu ordered after rejecting Hamas’ answer to a ceasefire plan at the focus of recent diplomatic efforts, although visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated on Wednesday that there was still “space for agreement to be reached”.
Concerns were growing for the thousands of Palestinians who have taken safety in Rafah on Egypt’s border, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning that a military push into the city “would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare”.
In remarks that were broadcast Wednesday, Netanyahu claimed he had instructed forces to “prepare to operate” in the city and that “total victory” over Hamas was only a few months away. Speaking about ceasefire plan, he stated, “Giving in to the bizarre demands of Hamas that we have just heard will, only invite another massacre.”
Blinken, who is on yet another trip to the region to advocate for a ceasefire, stated to reporters in Tel Aviv that Hamas’ counter proposal at least presented a possibility “to pursue negotiations” He announced shortly after his meeting with Netanyahu, “While there are some clear non-starters in Hamas’s response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached, and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there.”
The president of the International Crisis Group, Comfort Ero, said on Wednesday that conflicts in the region heightened the potential of the situation boiling over. “I think the big three — Iran, Israel, and the US — do not want to see escalation,” she told AFP in Washington. “But we are also seeing that every day we’re one step closer to a major miscalculation.”
