China News Service, Beijing, March 28 (Xinhua) According to foreign media reports on the 27th, Israel may begin a ground offensive against the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip in April or May. The Israeli army carried out multiple air strikes on Rafah on the 27th, killing at least 15 Palestinians.
The Lebanese newspaper Izvestia quoted an Egyptian source as saying that Israel plans to launch a ground attack on Rafah after Eid al-Fitr in April this year, and no later than early May. The offensive will last from 4 weeks to 8 weeks. Israel is preparing to evacuate about 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in the area while attacking. Evacuations will be notified in advance by area, and civilians will be evacuated from Rafah through designated routes at designated times. The Israeli army will conduct ground and aerial surveillance to prevent Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) militants and the kidnapped Israeli hostages from leaving among civilians.
"Izvestia" stated that there are currently about 4 battalions of Hamas armed personnel in Rafah, and Hamas leadership and some hostages are believed to be in this city near the Egyptian border. Egypt is deeply concerned about a possible ground offensive by Israel, fearing it would further escalate tensions across the region. Israel is said to have promised to notify Egypt in advance before Israeli troops enter the "Philadelphia Corridor" on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Reuters said that at least four residential buildings in Rafah were hit by air strikes on the 27th. The local health department said that 11 people were killed in one of the homes, and another airstrike killed 4 people, including women and children. The air strikes caused local residents to be extremely worried about an Israeli ground offensive.
Seven Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip that day. The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted buildings used as cover by Hamas militants, but Hamas denied this.
The United Nations Security Council recently passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan. Israel is extremely dissatisfied with both the resolution itself and the United States' failure to veto the resolution.
According to the Associated Press, the White House said on the 27th that after Israel canceled its plan to send a delegation to the United States this week, the two sides were negotiating a new time to achieve the originally planned talks. The delegation had been preparing to discuss an attack on Rafah with U.S. officials. The United States had previously called on Israel to abandon its attack on Rafah, but was rejected.
The Times of Israel said that Lebanese Hezbollah fired more than 30 rockets into Israel that day, killing one Israeli. Hezbollah said it was retaliation for the Israeli air strikes. The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on a village in southern Lebanon the night before, killing seven "terrorists" hiding there. Reuters said that among the dead were members of Hezbollah. (over)