Israeli War Cabinet Minister and National Unity Chair Benny Gantz prepares to address the Conference of Presidents about the war with Hamas in Gaza, on Sunday in Jerusalem. Gantz said if the hostages aren’t released by Hamas by Ramadan that the fighting will continue, including Rafah. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
Israel warned on Monday that it would attack the densely packed city of Rafah by the start of Ramadan next month if all of its remaining hostages are not returned.
Israel said it is preparing an attack on the crowded city as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would “finish the job” of destroying Hamas without announcing a plan to safely move civilians. Advertisement
More than 1.4 million Palestinians have crowded Rafah since the Oct. 7 start of the war, many living in tents or little shelter at all. U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Israel to come up with an evacuation plan for those civilians ahead of them attacking Rafah.
“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know, if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,” Benny Gantz, a part of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, said.
The Israeli Defense Forces said they detected and killed Hamas fighters who launched a rocket against Israel on Sunday in Gaza. The IDF said Nahal Brigade soldiers found a rocket launch site in minutes and ordered the Air Force to conduct a strike. Advertisement
The IDF said it found the suspected rocket launcher trying to enter Gaza City before he was killed. The rocket launched from the site fell into an open area of Israel where no one was injured.
In the meantime, the Council of the European Union announced a defensive security operation to protect commercial ships in the Red Sea on the heels of a report that another ship was damaged by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Houthis have been firing on ships in support of Hamas in the Israeli-Gaza war.
“Within its defense mandate, the operation will provide maritime situation awareness, accompany vessels and protect them against possible multi-domain attacks at sea,” the EU Council said in a statement.
