Israel gives Gaza’s ground offensive in Rafah until March

Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli government, said that if Hamas doesn’t release all the people they are holding captive in Gaza by 10 March, the Israeli military will attack Rafah.

This is the first time Israel has mentioned when its soldiers might go into the crowded city of Gaza in the south.

Many people around the world are speaking out against the attack in Rafah, where 1. 5 million Palestinians live.

Before, the UN public health agency said that a important hospital in Gaza stopped working after an attack by Israel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it wasn’t allowed to go into Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis to check on things.

The IDF went into the building on Thursday because they had information that Hamas had taken hostages and were keeping them there.

The IDF said their mission in Nasser was careful and not big, and they blamed Hamas for using hospitals for terror.

Mr Gantz, who used to be in charge of defending the country, said on Sunday that if our hostages are not returned by the end of Ramadan, there will be more fighting in many places, including the Rafah area.

Ramadan is the important month of fasting for Muslims, and it starts on 10 March this year.

Mr Gantz said that Israel will work together with the US and Egypt to help civilians leave safely and try to avoid hurting them.

The Israeli war cabinet is made up of the most important people in charge of keeping the country safe. It was created a few days after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7th, killing over 1,200 people and holding 253 hostages. Hamas has 130 hostages in Gaza, according to Israel.

Mr Gantz mentioned Egypt, which could mean Israel thinks some Palestinians may leave Gaza and go to Egypt. It seems like Egypt is making a big wall to keep them safe. This was reported by the BBC’s Paul Adams.

But the Israeli government has not shared any information about how they will evacuate people.

In three weeks Ramadan will start. Some people in Rafah are leaving and going to the coast, but most are still waiting and don’t know what to do.

Even though other countries are telling him not to, the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has promised to send troops into Rafah to get rid of the Hamas fighters there.

Egypt and some other Arab countries have said many times that if Israel attacks there, it could force a lot of Palestinians into Egypt. They don’t think this is okay. Saudi Arabia has promised that there will be big consequences if Rafah is attacked.

Many countries have told Israel not to attack a city in Gaza where the people are living in very bad conditions. The US, which is an important friend of Israel, warned that attacking the city without careful planning would be a very bad idea.

Israel has been attacking Hamas since 7 October and has caused a lot of damage to the Gaza Strip.

Over 28,400 Palestinians, mainly women and children, have died and over 68,000 have been injured since the war started, according to the health ministry run by Hamas.

The government says that at least 127 people from Palestine have died and 205 others were hurt in the last day.

Even though the conflict in Gaza is still going on, people have been trying to make a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in Cairo. However, mediators from Qatar said that there hasn’t been much progress.

Mr Netanyahu said he sent people to talk after President Biden asked, but they didn’t go back for more talks because Hamas wanted things that were not reasonable.

Hamas said Israel is not making progress in getting a ceasefire.