The Israeli army presented this Monday a plan for the “evacuation” of civilians from conflict areas, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch a ground offensive on the overcrowded city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
(Also: The Government of the Palestinian Authority presents its resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas)
The planned operation raised fears of a mass killing of civilians in Rafah, home to 1.4 million Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.
(You can read: Israel approves sending a delegation to Qatar to negotiate a truce in the Gaza Strip)
It is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid from Egypt, desperately needed in the face of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“The (Israeli army) presented to the war cabinet a plan to evacuate civilians from combat areas in the Gaza Strip, along with an operational plan,” Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
Previously, The prime minister stated that the offensive against Rafah would only be “delayed” if a ceasefire agreement was reached.
(Keep reading: Israel accuses the UN of ignoring Hamas' crimes by calling for an arms embargo)
The (Israeli army) presented to the war cabinet a plan to evacuate civilians from combat areas in the Gaza Strip, along with an operational plan.
Representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel, together with Hamas envoys, are holding a new round of negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire, Egyptian television reported.
“If we don't have an agreement, we will do it anyway,” Netanyahu said of the offensive in Rafah, in an interview with the US network CBS.
“It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach,” he added.
Meanwhile, the situation in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen and 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population, face “massive famine”, according to the UN.
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The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
'I have no words'
The bombings do not stop and humanitarian aid enters in dribs and drabs through the Rafah crossing, and depends on the approval of Israel, which imposed a total siege on Gaza.
An AFP correspondent reported hundreds of people leaving their homes to go to other areas of the territory, governed by Hamas since 2007 and subjected to intense Israeli bombing since October 7.
The war broke out that day when Islamist militants killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and kidnapped about 250, according to an AFP report based on Israeli data.
(You can read: Negotiations in Paris to reach a new truce in Gaza: how are the dialogues going?)
![Loop](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2024/02/25/65db4ad9a4ca4.jpeg)
Palestinians flee their homes along with their belongings after an Israeli bombardment in Rafah.
In response to the attack, Israel launched an air and ground offensive that has already caused 29,782 deaths in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory.
It also reported at least 90 deaths in the last 24 hours and a total of 70,043 injuries since October 7, when the conflict began.
The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday the death of soldier Oz Daniel, 19 years oldyes
“I came walking (…). I have no words to describe the type of famine that is spreading there,” said Samir Abd Rabbo, 27, who arrived in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, with his daughter from a year and a half.
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There is no milk (for my daughter). I try to give him bread that I prepare from fodder, but he can't digest it (…). Our only hope is God's help.
“There is no milk (for my daughter). I try to give her bread that I prepare from fodder, but she cannot digest it (…). Our only hope is God's help,” she said.
Even so, A famine in Gaza can still be “avoided” if Israel allows humanitarian agencies to send “significant aid” theresaid the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, on Sunday.
But Netanyahu insists on his plan to launch an offensive against Rafah to destroy the “last bastion” of Hamas.
(Also read: Netanyahu reveals what will happen to Gaza after the end of the conflict: what does the plan say?)
![Loop](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2024/02/24/65da10c0e44bd.jpeg)
Palestinians search for survivors and bodies in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombings in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Negotiation for a truce
At the diplomatic level, representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel and Hamas resumed on Sunday in Doha negotiations for a truce, which will be followed by “meetings in Cairo”according to the AlQahera News channel, close to the Egyptian intelligence services.
The conversations, according to the network, “ensure follow-up on what was discussed in Paris,” where the head of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, David Barnea, traveled on Friday.
(Continue reading: Hamas leaves Egypt after days of negotiations on possible truce in Gaza)
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Representatives of Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, meeting in Paris, “reached an understanding” regarding “what should be the basic contours of a hostage agreement for a temporary ceasefire”.
![Jake Sullivan](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2021/10/07/615ef776bf2ec.jpeg)
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (left).
EFE / EPA / MICHAEL BUHOLZER
“Indirect discussions between Qatar and Egypt with Hamas will have to occur, as ultimately they will have to agree to release the hostages,” he told CNN, after noting that “that work is underway.”
For his part, the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, will travel to Paris this week to discuss ongoing negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to a source from Hamas, classified as a “terrorist” organization by the United States, Israel and the European Union, The plan contains a six-week truce and an exchange of between 200 and 300 Palestinian prisoners for 35 and 40 hostages..
After an exchange that took place in November, Israeli authorities estimate that there are still 130 hostages in Gaza, of whom 31 have reportedly died.
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Indirect discussions between Qatar and Egypt with Hamas will have to occur, as they will ultimately have to agree to release the hostages.
Among those killed was a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, the army announced this Sunday.
Israel, facing internal pressure, demands “the release of all the hostages, starting with all the women, and that this agreement does not mean the end of the war,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu's national security adviser.
Hamas, on the other hand, demands a “complete ceasefire” and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Palestinian Authority government resigns
The Government of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) presented its resignation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayeh announced.
“I made the government's resignation available to President Mahmoud Abbas last Tuesday, February 20, and today I present it in writing”said the prime minister at the beginning of a meeting with the entire ANP government cabinet in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank.
Shtayeh explained that this decision comes “in light of the political, security and economic developments related to the aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, and the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank, including the city of East Jerusalem.”
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![Mahmoud Abbas](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2020/02/11/5e42e5999fc30.jpeg)
The president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
“It comes in light of what our people, our Palestinian cause and our political system face: a ferocious and unprecedented attack, a genocide, attempted forced displacement, famine in Gaza, intensification of colonialism, settler terrorism and repeated invasions of fields and villages in Jerusalem and the West Bank,” lamented the still prime minister.
The en bloc resignation of the ANP government comes at a time when the post-war plan for the Gaza Strip is being discussedwith the question of which entity will assume civilian control of the Palestinian enclave, where Israel will not allow the Islamist group Hamas to regain power.
AFP and EFE
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