AFP Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip

Updated Monday, February 26, 2024-08:14

The Israeli military on Monday presented a plan for the "evacuation" of civilians from conflict areas, after Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu

vowed to launch a ground offensive in the overcrowded city of

Rafah

, in the southern

Gaza Strip

.

The planned operation raised fears of a mass killing of civilians in Rafah, home to 1.4 million Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and the Islamist movement

Hamas

.

It is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid from

Egypt

, desperately needed in the face of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"The (Israeli army) presented to the war cabinet a plan to evacuate civilians from combat areas in the Gaza Strip, along with an operational plan," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

Previously, the prime minister stated that the offensive against Rafah would only be "delayed" if a ceasefire agreement was reached.

Representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel, together with Hamas envoys, are holding a new round of negotiations in

Doha

for a ceasefire, Egyptian television reported.

"If we don't have an agreement, we will do it anyway," Netanyahu said of the offensive in Rafah, in an interview with the US network CBS.

"It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach," he added.

Meanwhile, the situation in the Gaza Strip continues to worsen and 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population, face

"massive famine"

, according to the UN.

"I have no words"

The bombings do not stop and humanitarian aid enters in dribs and drabs through the Rafah crossing, and depends on the approval of Israel, which imposed a total siege on Gaza.

An AFP correspondent reported hundreds of people leaving their homes to go to other areas of the territory, governed by Hamas since 2007 and subjected to intense Israeli bombing since October 7.

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The war broke out that day when Islamist militants killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, and kidnapped about 250, according to an AFP report based on Israeli data.

In response to the attack, Israel launched an air and ground offensive that has already caused

29,692 deaths in Gaza

, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory.

The ministry announced on Monday that 92 Palestinians were killed in the overnight attacks.

The Israeli army confirmed on Sunday the death of

19-year-old soldier

Oz Daniel

"I came walking (...). I have no words to describe the type of famine that is spreading there," said

Samir Abd Rabbo

, 27, who arrived in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, with his daughter from a year and a half.

"There is no milk [for my daughter]. I try to give her bread that I prepare from fodder, but she cannot digest it (...). Our only hope is God's help," she said.

Even so, a famine in Gaza can still be "avoided" if Israel allows humanitarian agencies to send "significant aid" there, the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on

Sunday

.

But Netanyahu insists on his plan to launch an offensive against Rafah to destroy the "last bastion" of Hamas.

Negotiation for a truce

At the diplomatic level, representatives of Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Israel and Hamas resumed negotiations on a truce in Doha on Sunday, which will be followed by

"meetings in Cairo"

, according to the AlQahera News channel, next to the Egyptian intelligence services.

The conversations, according to the network, "ensure follow-up on what was discussed in Paris," where the head of Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, David Barnea

, traveled on Friday

.

White House National Security Advisor

Jake Sullivan

said Sunday that representatives of Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, meeting in Paris, "came to an understanding" regarding "what the basic contours of a agreement on hostages for a temporary ceasefire.

"Indirect discussions between Qatar and Egypt with Hamas will have to occur, as ultimately they will have to agree to release the hostages," he told CNN, after noting that "that work is underway."

For his part, the emir of Qatar,

Tamim bin Hamad al Thani

, will travel to Paris this week to discuss ongoing negotiations with French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to a source from Hamas, classified as a "terrorist" organization by the United States, Israel and the European Union, the plan contains a six-week truce and an exchange of between 200 and 300 Palestinian prisoners for 35 and 40 hostages.

After an exchange that took place in November, Israeli authorities estimate that there are still 130 hostages in Gaza, of whom 31 have reportedly died.

Among those killed was a 19-year-old Israeli soldier, the army announced this Sunday.

Israel, facing internal pressure, demands "the release of all the hostages, starting with all the women, and that this agreement does not mean the end of the war," said Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu's national security adviser.

Hamas, on the other hand,

demands a "complete ceasefire"

and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.