Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that Israel will invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, declaring: “There is a date.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a date had been set for an Israeli invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s last refuge for displaced Palestinians, without revealing that date as a new round of talks takes place. ceasefire in Cairo.

“Today I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo. We are constantly working to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

‘This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of terrorist battalions there. “It will happen, there is a date.”

The shock announcement came hours after reports suggested that Hamas and Israel were just two days away from agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage deal that would have put at least a temporary end to the bloodiest war in the Middle East in decades. .

Hamas and Israel sent negotiators to Cairo, Egypt, where they were joined by mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

State-linked Egyptian news outlet Al-Qahera reported that “significant progress was being made on several contentious points of the deal,” citing an unnamed senior Egyptian source.

The outlet said the Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return “within two days to finalize the terms of the agreement.”

Delegations from the United States and Israel were also due to leave the Egyptian capital “in the next few hours” to hold consultations over the next 48 hours, he added.

But negotiations have been rocky during the six-month war in Gaza, with both Hamas and Israel pulling out of the talks over disagreements on several occasions.

Israel’s allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have expressed opposition to Israel’s stated plans to invade Rafah, home to 1.4 million civilians seeking refugees from the bloody war against the enclave.

Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron previously wrote in

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to bring in aid and remove the hostages, and then move towards a sustainable and permanent ceasefire.”

Israel’s main ally, the United States, has said invading Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.

Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of Rafah, an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Netanyahu’s announcement came as streams of Palestinians poured into the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Monday to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left behind by Israel’s offensive, a day after the Israeli army announced that it was withdrawing troops from the area.

Allowing people to return to Khan Younis could relieve some pressure on Rafah, but many have no homes to return to. The city is also likely filled with dangerous unexploded ordnance left behind by the fighting.

Israel’s military quietly withdrew troops in devastated northern Gaza early in the war.

But it has continued to carry out airstrikes and raids on areas where it says Hamas has regrouped, including Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, leaving what the head of the World Health Organization called “an empty shell.”

Israel blames Hamas for the damage, saying it is fighting from civilian areas.

More to follow.