"There is a date"

Netanyahu: Date set for Rafah invasion

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the date for an invasion of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip has been set. Israel is working continuously to achieve its goals, he says. These are the release of all hostages and the complete victory over Hamas.

"This victory requires the invasion of Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there," Netanyahu continued. "It will happen - there is a date." However, the Prime Minister did not mention the date itself.

Pressure from far-right coalition partners had previously increased on the Israeli head of government. Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from the Otzma Yehudit party wrote on Monday on the X platform, formerly Twitter: "If the Prime Minister decides to end the war without a broad attack on Rafah to decisively defeat Hamas, he will have no mandate to continue as head of government."

"It will happen - there is a date," said Netanyahu (pictured). However, he did not name the date itself.

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

"We are at a suitable time"
Also on Monday, Defense Minister Joav Gallant declared the time for an agreement with Hamas to be "favorable". "I think we are at the right time," he told Israeli recruits on Monday, according to a statement published by his office.

The Egyptian news channel Al-Kahera News, which is close to the state, had previously reported that talks between Israel and Hamas had made progress. All parties involved had agreed on fundamental points, the report said. "Significant progress" had been made, the station reported on Monday, citing a senior Egyptian representative.

Majority of troops withdrawn from South Gaza
According to Israel, it had withdrawn all its soldiers from the southern Gaza Strip at the weekend after months of fighting. The armed forces had done this "to recover and prepare for future operations", an army representative told AFP. According to the Israeli army, it also made further preparations for a possible war on the border with Lebanon. A "new phase in the preparation of the Northern Command for war has been completed", it announced.

Fears of the war spreading to the region have been growing for months. Representatives of the UN called on Monday for de-escalation "as long as there is still room for diplomacy". The violence that has been going on for six months "must stop", declared the UN envoy for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, and the commander of the UN mission tasked with monitoring the Israeli-Lebanese border area, UNIFIL, Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz.