Palestinian territories:
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Thursday that Israel would fail to achieve its stated goals of defeating the Palestinian Hamas group and freeing hostages by invading the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“Even if (Israel) comes in and invades Rafah, it will not achieve what it wants,” Ghazi Hamad said in a telephone interview from Qatar, where several senior figures in Hamas's political bureau are based.
Hamad said that Israel “spent almost seven months in Gaza and invaded all areas and destroyed much, but has so far not been able to achieve any of its main goals, whether eliminating Hamas or returning the prisoners “.
Israel has vowed to press ahead with its planned military operation in Rafah, despite international outrage and concerns over the approximately 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the city.
There are fears of major civilian casualties and countries including Israel's main ally and arms supplier, the United States, have warned Israel against sending troops to Rafah.
“We have spoken to all parties involved in the conflict… about the seriousness of the invasion of Rafah and that Israel is on the path to committing more massacres and more genocide,” Hamad said.
“This will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations, because this position clearly shows that Israel is interested in continuing the war and aggression and has no intention of continuing negotiations and reaching an agreement,” he said.
Qatar, the United States and Egypt are mediating talks to broker a ceasefire and the release of hostages, but they have been stalled for days.
However, an Egyptian delegation will travel to Israel on Friday to kick off a new round of talks, Israeli media reported, citing unnamed officials.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Israel's war cabinet met Thursday “to discuss how to destroy the last battalions of Hamas.”
On Wednesday, Mencer said that since Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza on October 27, the army has destroyed “at least 18 or 19 of Hamas's 24 battalions.”
– 'Netanyahu stumbles' –
Officials say the remaining battalions are in Rafah, the main target of the upcoming attack.
Most Gazans seeking refuge in Rafah are sheltering in makeshift camps, and even before the start of the expected ground invasion, the city near the Egyptian border has been regularly hit by Israeli bombardments.
Hamad argued that the planned invasion exposed contradictions in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position on Gaza.
“Netanyahu is stumbling because on the one hand he wants to return the prisoners to their families, as he says, but on the other hand he is putting them in great danger because his army has deliberately killed many hostages.”
The Israeli army has admitted to accidentally killing several hostages in Gaza.
Hamad accused Netanyahu of “manipulating and delaying” in an attempt to “deceive the Israeli public that negotiations are taking place and also deceive the international community that negotiations are taking place.”
He said the Israeli prime minister was “trying to distort the truth” and claimed that “Hamas is the obstacle in these negotiations.”
Hamad said Qatar and Egypt are making “great efforts to reach an agreement,” but argued that “the Israeli side is unfortunately handling the matter foolishly and is very confused.”
Hamad also told AFP that Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, was already planning for the area after the war.
He said the group was “working on the post-war phase to ensure that great efforts are made to rebuild the Gaza Strip and provide the necessary conditions for a decent life.”
Hamas took about 250 hostages to Gaza during the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
Israeli officials say 129 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who the army says are dead.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, Israelis and foreigners, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed 34,305 people, most of them women and children, according to Israel's Health Ministry.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)