Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, threatened on Sunday that Israel will launch an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages by Ramadan, which begins on March 10 this year.
“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know — if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,” Gantz told a gathering of Jewish American organizations in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Rafah has a pre-war population of 275,000 and is now packed with 1.5 million people as the city has become a final refuge for Palestinians who fled other areas of Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have been hitting Rafah, but Israel has yet to launch a full-scale invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been vowing to follow through on his plans to invade Rafah, claiming it’s necessary to defeat Hamas, but Gantz’s comments are the first indication of a timeline on when the assault might start.
“To those saying the price is too high, I say this very clearly: Hamas has a choice — they can surrender, release the hostages, and the citizens of Gaza will be able to celebrate the holy holiday of Ramadan,” Gantz said.
Gantz’s comments came after Netanyahu vetoed further hostage deal talks, and there’s virtually no chance Hamas would release the remaining Israeli captives without some sort of agreement.
The US has given Israel the green light to attack Rafah despite the risk of a huge number of civilian casualties. Publicly, US officials are saying Israel must come up with a plan to protect civilians in the city, but POLITICO reported that the US will not impose any consequences if it doesn’t.
Gantz insisted Israel will attack Rafah “in a coordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimize civilian casualties.” But it’s unclear where the Palestinian civilians could go, and Israel has bombed so-called “safe zones” over the past few months.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Egypt is building a walled camp in the Sinai desert to prepare for an influx of Palestinians, signaling Cairo is softening on its position that it won’t allow refugees in its territory. Egyptian officials told the Journal that the camp could hold up to 100,000 people, but they would like to limit it to 50,000 to 60,000.
As Israel is preparing to invade Rafah, the US is preparing to send a new shipment of bombs to support the mass killing of Palestinians. Since October 7, the Israeli onslaught has killed over 29,000 Palestinians, and more than 69,000 have been wounded. About two-thirds of the casualties are women and children.
“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know — if by Ramadan our hostages are not home . . .”
By Ramadan, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. Imagine the reaction in Israel and the West if Israelis were threatened with dire consequences if they didn’t comply with some demand by Passover.
Or Christmas.
I mean, Diss, to be fair, Passover DOES have an adorable, charming slaughter of innocents in its story, so, would kinda fit thematically?
What innocents are you talking about?
The infants & firstborn Pharoah son (I’m creeping death-ah).
At least a truly awesome Metallica song came out of the story.
Release the hostages, Hamy, or else you’ll get “de-nazified” like Ukraine.
There is no point is answering such a provocative comment,
But you just did so next time just don’t say anything.
You should heed your own advice.
I support Don’s point of view.
Why ? You’re not an unrelenting idiot unable (or unwilling) to match claims and assertions to reality.
I mean, you’re under halfway there, tho I think more’n a few of us can still bring you back from the Donald Abyss of Horsesh*ttery.
“Putin/Russia (verb) (noun)” is a lost cause at this point, hiding as he does from reason, evidence, accountability…
HAHAHA
You equate Netanyahu with Putin? Sure?
Ceasefire, Izzy, or you’ll be full fledged Nazis like the Third Reich.
Better to be alive and hated.
You’re gonna meet him eventually.
Jesus is Palestinian! ✝️🇵🇸✝️
Gantz picked a good month to be sacrificed…!
If any ANY hostages get out alive it won’t be due to anything Israeli Occupation Forces have done or will do short of a ceasefire.
some were just rescued yesterday.
Allah is merciful.
Israel will launch an assault on Rafah regardless of the status of the hostages.
It makes absolutely no sense for Hamas to release the hostages unless it is conditioned on a permanent cease fire leading to negotiations.
I’m more interested in when will they attack Lebanon. They have four divisions in the north and they can’t keep them there ready for combat indefinitely. They only have one division left for Rafah.
Probably they expect Hezbollah to ratchet up their attacks after Rafah is attacked, which would give the Israelis a fig leaf excuse to attack Lebanon. Which they will regre because that will in turn enable Hezbollah to launch a full-scale attack on Israel.
Alastair Crooke talked about this on Napolitano yesterday.
“To those saying the price is too high, I say this very clearly: Hamas has a choice — they can surrender, release the hostages, and the citizens of Gaza will be able to celebrate the holy holiday of Ramadan,” Gantz said.
Just adding to the numbers that are already on a genocidal scale doesn’t seem to faze these sick fuckers.
I 100% do not trust the ASI government’s claims they will stop any or all of this if the hostages are released.
I fear giving up the hostages would only invite IDF “daisy cutter” air-fuel bombs and vintage B-25 / B-29 carpet-bombing runs.
My comment didn’t make much sense. So I edited it. Say that fast five times.
Israel does not possess B-25/B-29. wake up.