Rafah:
Israel's foreign minister said on Saturday that a planned raid on the southern Gaza city of Rafah could be suspended if there was an agreement to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The comments came as international mediators pushed for an agreement to reach a ceasefire in the six months of devastating fighting in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war caused.
“The release of the hostages is our top priority,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said during an interview with local television channel Channel 12.
Asked whether that included postponing a planned operation to eliminate Hamas battalions in the city of Rafah, Katz said: “Yes.”
He further said, “If there is a deal, we will suspend the operation.”
Although Katz is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet, he is not a member of the limited-forum war cabinet overseeing the Gaza offensive.
Israel, which has launched its war to destroy Hamas after the Islamist group's attacks on Israeli cities on October 7, says Rafah is home to four Hamas combat battalions, reinforced by thousands of retreating fighters, and that it must defeat them to to achieve victory.
But Rafah, which hugs the Egyptian border, is home to more than a million Palestinians who fled the Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza and say the prospect of fleeing again is terrifying.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas said it had received Israel's official response to its latest ceasefire proposal in negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar and would study it before submitting its response.
On Thursday, the United States and 17 other countries called on Hamas to release all its hostages as a way to end the crisis.
Hamas wants any deal to translate into a permanent end to the fighting – short of a formal peace, as the Islamist group has vowed Israel's destruction. Israel plans to continue the war until Hamas' government and military capabilities are dismantled.
More than 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including women and children.
When Hamas released a new video showing two of the hostages pleading for their release and sending love to their families, thousands of Israelis gathered in protest in Tel Aviv and demanded the government do more to secure their release.
According to Israeli data, some 1,200 people were killed on October 7 in the deadliest attack in Israel's history. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
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