Israel reported on Monday the rescue of two captives in Rafah, southern Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry said “around 100” Palestinians, including children, had been killed in intense nighttime air strikes.
Israel is preparing a ground incursion into the crowded metropolis on Egypt’s border, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought safety from violence further north.
The dangerous humanitarian situation in Rafah has prompted relief organizations and international countries, including Israel’s main partner the United States, to voice grave alarm about the possible disastrous effects of increasing operations there.
After nearly 130 days in captivity, two hostages were rescued in Rafah by the Israeli military, Shin Bet, and police, according to an announcement made early Monday morning.
In a statement, the army named the two as Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har, claiming they “were kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak”.Both were in “good medical condition,” it said.
“The military and Shin Bet have been working on this operation for a long time…and they waited until the conditions were right to carry it out,” army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a brief.
He said that a gunfight broke out as the captives were being led out of the building where they were being kept, with air strikes striking surrounding buildings where shots were fired.
“Many terrorists were killed this evening during this operation and one of our fighters was slightly injured,” he went on to say.
During the October 7 strikes, Palestinian militants took approximately 250 captives, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. According to Israel, approximately 130 people remain in Gaza, with 29 believed to have died.
The Hamas onslaught on southern Israel killed around 1,160 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to an AFP assessment based on government numbers.
Israel has retaliated with a continuous attack in Gaza, killing at least 28,176 Palestinians as of Sunday, the majority of them were women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Hamas released dozens of hostages during a one-week truce in November, which also resulted in the liberation of over 200 Palestinian inmates detained in Israeli jails.
Since then, Netanyahu has faced rising demonstrations and even calls for early elections, with relatives of hostages dissatisfied with the pace of the rescues.
Renewed talks for a respite in the war have resumed in Cairo, with Hamas willing to negotiate a new ceasefire that includes further prisoner-hostage exchanges.
However, a Hamas leader told AFP on the condition of anonymity that an Israeli incursion into Rafah “would torpedo the exchange negotiations”.
The group’s military wing stated on Sunday that two hostages had been killed and eight others critically injured in recent Israeli bombardment, a claim that the AFP could not independently verify.
Overnight strikes
Despite rising calls for him to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the other hostages, Netanyahu has reiterated that only military force can return them home.
final Monday, he stated that he had directed troops to prepare for operations in Rafah, the final major city they had yet to enter.
According to a statement from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, massive air strikes in the overcrowded city before daybreak on Monday killed “around 100” people.
AFP journalists and witnesses reported hearing a barrage of strikes and seeing smoke billowing above the city, which now houses more than half of Gaza’s entire population after fleeing bombing elsewhere in the Strip.
According to the Hamas government, the strikes targeted 14 residences and three mosques throughout Rafah.
The Israeli military stated that it had “conducted a series of strikes on terror targets in the area of Shaboura in the southern Gaza Strip” and that the strikes had ended.
US President Joe Biden called Netanyahu on Sunday and advised him that the Rafah advance could not proceed without a “credible” plan to secure “the safety” of those sheltering there, according to the White House.
Approximately 1.4 million Palestinians have poured into Rafah, with many living in tents, while food, water, and medication become more short.
Netanyahu told ABC News that the Rafah operation would continue until Hamas was eradicated, and that he would allow “safe passage” to people who wanted to evacuate.
When asked where they may go, Netanyahu responded, “You know, the places that we’ve cleansed north of Rafah, plenty of areas there. But we’re working on a specific plan.”
Demilitarisation
During a visit to a military base on Sunday, Netanyahu stated that Israel seeks “the demilitarization of Gaza.”
“This requires our security control… over the entire area west of Jordan, including the Gaza Strip,” he went on to say.
Qatar, Oman, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) were among the latest to express concern about the intention to move on Rafah.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also opposed “forced” relocation of residents from Rafah, citing the pain of Palestinians’ mass departure and forced displacement around the time Israel was established in 1948.
Riyadh requested an urgent UN Security Council meeting, while Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that the priority “must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out”.