Washington and Arab countries warn Israel against invading Rafah during Ramadan; A report indicates that Netanyahu set the beginning of next month, March 10, as the date for the end of operations in Rafah, while Israeli reports stated that the military and political levels did not set a timetable.

The administration of US President Joe Biden warned the Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, against invading the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, during the month of Ramadan, stressing that this could lead to a “regional escalation,” according to what the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported (“Kan 11 "), Saturday evening.

The official Israeli channel reported that the US administration sent a message to Israel during the past few days, warning it against launching a military operation in Rafah during the month of Ramadan, considering that this would not only lead to “escalation in Gaza” but to a comprehensive escalation in the region.

The channel indicated that Arab countries also issued similar warnings to Israel. This comes as the American CNN network reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official, that Netanyahu informed the “war cabinet” on Thursday that the Israeli forces’ operation in Rafah “must be completed by the beginning of the month of Ramadan on the tenth of next March.” 

“The date of the possible invasion has not been determined.”

In turn, Channel 13 quoted the Israeli army spokesman as saying, “The army will do what the political leadership orders it to do, but it has not yet set a target date for the start of the operation in Rafah.” Haaretz newspaper also quoted informed sources as saying that "the political level has not yet set a timetable for the Israeli army operation in the southern Gaza Strip and the Rafah area."

According to Haaretz sources, the political leadership in Israel “has not set a date for expanding the military operation and moving to the city of Rafah, close to the border with Egypt.” The sources explained that "Israel has not yet reached understandings with Egypt on how to deal with tunnels in the border area between Egypt and the Gaza Strip."

The newspaper added on its website that Israel was also unable to reach understandings with Cairo on “monitoring measures that would provide warning of weapons smuggling operations through tunnels from the Egyptian side to the Gaza Strip.”

Meanwhile, a political official who spoke to Haaretz linked the escalating Israeli threats regarding an imminent invasion of Rafah to Israeli attempts to pressure Hamas leaders and push them to make concessions within the framework of negotiations aimed at reaching a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Searching for "alternatives" to evacuate the displaced from Rafah

Kan 11 quoted (unnamed) regional officials as saying that Egypt's fears regarding the imminent Israeli invasion of Rafah are related to the possibility of widespread infiltration operations into Egyptian territory, in light of the presence of more than 1.3 million displaced people in the region.

The channel reported that the Israeli security services are studying "alternatives" to the process of evacuating Palestinians from Rafah, to enable the Israeli army to carry out the possible ground operation in the city located south of the Gaza Strip.

It said that the goals that Israel will seek to achieve by invading Rafah “are rescuing hostages, assassinating Hamas leaders, and destroying smuggling tunnels to Egypt and terrorist infrastructure,” as he put it.

Netanyahu to Halevy: “If you release reserve soldiers... call them back.”

Channel 13 reported, on Saturday evening, that Netanyahu urged the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevy, in the cabinet session held last Thursday, to prepare a plan to “cleanse Rafah” by remobilizing reserve soldiers in preparation for an Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip. The channel quoted a senior official as saying, "The operation in Rafah is approaching."

According to the channel, Netanyahu told the chief of staff during the cabinet session that, “If you demobilize soldiers in the reserve forces, recruit them again.” In his response to Netanyahu, Halevy said: “We will know how to carry out any mission, but there are political aspects that must be taken care of first.”

Halevy went on to say: “The plan requires the evacuation of 1.3 million residents there (referring to the displaced Palestinians from the northern and central Gaza Strip). The process also requires political coordination with the Egyptian side.” On Friday, Netanyahu's office announced that the latter "instructed the army and security services to present to the cabinet a dual plan - to evacuate the population and eliminate the Hamas brigades."

Meanwhile, the Israeli government is preparing to send a high-level security delegation to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, next week, to participate in an American-Egyptian-Qatari meeting regarding deal negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Israel conditions its participation in the American-Egyptian-Qatari meetings in Cairo on “softening” the position of the Hamas movement, in reference to its response to the Paris proposal that was held about two weeks ago.

Israeli officials said that “if Hamas does not express a softer position, Israel will not send a delegation to the talks” in Cairo, according to what Channel 13 reported on Friday evening, and explained that the cabinet had taken a decision in this regard.