Prime Minister Netanyahu's office earlier ordered the armed forces to draw up a plan to carry out the attack and evacuate civilians.
Israel has not yet decided on a date for its attack on the Gaza border town of Rafah, an Israeli newspaper Haaretz says, relying on his insider sources.
According to the sources, one of the biggest question marks is that Israel has not reached an agreement with Egypt regarding the fate of the tunnels running between Egypt and Gaza. The extremist organization Hamas is believed to have used the tunnels to smuggle weapons and other supplies into Gaza.
A Haaretz source believes that Israel's declarations of intent to attack Rafah could increase pressure and prompt Hamas leaders to show more flexibility in negotiations between the two sides.
of Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his country's armed forces to prepare a plan to destroy the four Hamas battalions in the city and to evacuate civilians from the Rafah area. The issue was reported in a press release published by Netanyahu's office on Friday, which was updated separately on Saturday.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu had told his government that the attack should be completed by March 10. An Israeli official source told the news channel about it for CNN on Saturday.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is scheduled to begin in the region on that date.
According to Haaretz, insider sources had commented on Israel's attack intentions to the newspaper after the CNN story was published.
Hamas warned on Saturday that a possible Israeli ground attack on the border town of Rafah could claim tens of thousands of victims. Several international actors have also expressed their concern about the effects of a possible attack.
Israel has previously ordered people to evacuate to the southern part of Gaza, and there are even hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Rafah area.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry quoted by the news agency AFP, more than 28,000 people had already been killed by Israeli airstrikes and attacks by Saturday. Israel began its military operations in Gaza after the October attack by Hamas.
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