Siege of Rafah. Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas

The countdown for Hamas has started after an Israeli ultimatum threatening to storm the town of Rafah by March 10 if the armed Palestinian movement does not release the remaining hostages. The Jewish state has thus rejected international calls for restraint to protect Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern Gaza Strip city.

In recent weeks, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations have called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to withdraw his troops and cancel the planned offensive on Rafah, where at least 1.5 million Palestinian refugees are currently being held. The town on the border with Egypt is the last remaining stronghold of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

“The surviving Hamas leaders should know this: if our hostages do not return home by Ramadan, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah neighborhood,” former Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said in Jerusalem during a conference with Jewish community leaders in the United States.

“Hamas has only one choice. It can surrender, free the hostages and civilians in the Gaza Strip, after which they can celebrate the Ramadan holiday,” added Gantz, a member of Israel’s military cabinet. Ramadan, the holy month of Muslims, begins on the evening of March 10. Gantz also clarified that the offensive will be conducted in coordination with American and Egyptian partners to “minimize any civilian casualties.”