Israel has set a deadline for its
long-planned offensive against gaza's
southern city of Rafa retired army
General Benny gance a member of the
country's War cabinet says Israeli
troops will launch their assault next
month if Hamas doesn't free the
remaining hostages by Ramadan the Muslim
holy month is expected to start on the
10th of March Rafa is the last major
gazen city not to be invaded by ground
troops during Israel's war against Hamas
which is widely considered a terror
organization
air strikes across Gaza as Israel
pursues what its prime minister has
called total Victory Homes schools and
hospitals destroyed as the death toll
keeps
climbing they are all civilians there
are no military personnel or anything we
send our message to the world and our
message to the Israeli government and
the Hamas government in Gaza is please
stop the war enough
War Israel's ground offensive has
extended to raids on multiple hospitals
aggravating the already dire
humanitarian
situation a doctor at Naser Hospital in
the city of K Yunis described the moment
he realized an Israeli Army raid was
happening was like chaos everybody
running there and
there uh so I realized that it is
invasion of IDF as I started hearing
some dogs at the hospital yards and
actually yeah they destroyed the back
back wall of the hospital and release
their
dogs Israel claims its targeting of
hospitals is legitimate because Hamas
allegedly operates within them its
military released this video set to show
weapons found inside cars close to the
nser
hospital soon the ground Siege could be
extending all the way to Rafa despite
International concern over Israel's plan
to invade the last City in Gaza that
hasn't seen major ground
fighting Benny guns a member of
netanyahu's three member War cabinet
said Israeli troops would launch their
assault next
month if by Ramadan hostages are not
home the fighting will continue
everywhere to include Rafa area the
Muslim holy month is expected to begin
around the 10th of March while gun does
not have the final word on what lies
ahead he represents an influential
Israeli voice defying calls including
from Israel's strongest backer the US to
spare the city where more than a million
Palestinians are
Sheltering and have nowhere else to
go Myra zon is senior Israel Analyst at
the inter International crisis group she
joins us from Tel Aviv welcome to DW um
what do you make of this deadline Israel
has announced for its Raa
offensive well it seems like the
offensive is a question of when not if
but the Israeli government currently is
not capable of going into Rafa because
reservists need to be called up from the
Army and as Netanyahu has said they
would have to create some kind of
evacuation of over a million
Palestinians uh in right now so it's not
something that could happen soon the
deadline for Ramadan seems to be a
threat by the Israeli government as a
way to pressure Hamas I think in the
negotiations and to tell the world that
Israel is prepared to go all the way as
Netanyahu has said but I find it hard to
believe that it is something that could
happen in the next few weeks right and
you mentioned that the idea that the
threat of Ramadan uh is a way to might
be a way to to pressure Hamas this this
because I was going to ask you what what
we should make of Israel's use of a
Muslim holy period as a a deadline for
military
action well in some ways this is kind of
arbitrary but you know Ramadan has been
um a point of contention and a flash
point specifically in Jerusalem around
access to the AL aamos which is already
being limited and now the government has
said that it will further limit uh
access by Palestinians including
citizens of Israel to alamasa Ramadan
and this is a recipe for further
friction and further disaster so uh you
know making everything about Ramadan in
some ways by the Israeli government is
is just a way of asserting that it is
The Sovereign it has full control and it
will do as it pleases uh so this is kind
of just a way to continue to intimidate
the Palestinian population you talked
about um uh Israel needing time to um uh
sort out some sort of evacuation plan
they they do appear to have heeded
International critics and said that um
an evacuation plan will happen but one
wonders in a place as crowded as um Rafa
is and with the rest of the Gaza Strip
so utterly annihilated is any sort of
evacuation plan
credible no I don't think it's credible
and as we have seen even the places that
are considered safe spaces in Gaza are
not actually safe and I think it's you
know Common Sense and logic that in a
place that is already so crowded and
besieged and is under constant
bombardment it's it's almost impossible
to to properly evacuate civilians there
as you said there's almost nowhere to
evacuate them to the conditions are
horrible we are in the middle of a very
rainy winter so you know the conditions
are are are impossible so even if they
did have a logistical plan which again
would take time to evacuate those
civilians there's absolutely no
guarantee of their safety I mean even
the humanitarian Aid once it gets in
it's almost impossible uh to deliver it
properly because of the of the situation
of the Warfare I'm so what is it then
either about this offensive or this
stage in the war that has prompted
Israel to at least look as though it is
heeding international pressure where
before it hasn't it hasn't looked as
though it's it's
listening well I think it Netanyahu is
constantly walking the line between
trying to appease the US to some level
whe whether it has to do with human
Arian Aid or withdrawing troops or the
level of intensity and at the same time
continuing with actions and rhetoric
that um that are calling for endless war
uh endless uh occupation and control uh
security control at least in Gaza and so
he's trying to walk this line where he
where he promises his base and the
country that he will continue until what
he calls a total Victory which even his
own Military Intelligence has said would
not be the case because Hamas will
continue to remain intact as some kind
of terror group as a Guerilla group it
can continue to operate on some level it
will not be eradicated as he has
promised but when when he finds the need
to appease the us or appease the world
then he'll he'll do what he needs to do
to try to make it at least appear
optically that he's doing so okay thank
you for a fascinating analysisa Zine
from the international crisis
group thank
you