Israeli officials have set a deadline for Hamas to release all hostages.
Should they not be freed by March 10, then Israel says it will launch an offensive in Rafah. The southern Gaza city is where over a million Palestinians have taken refuge since the October 7 attacks.
World leaders have already spoken out against Israel’s proposed assault on Rafah.
The United Nations it had been unable to access the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, just north of Rafah, to assess the situation following an Israeli raid.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) entered the complex on Thursday believing it to be where hostages were being held, reports the BBC.
The IDF said its operation inside Nasser as “precise and limited”. It accused Hamas of “cynically using hospitals for terror”.
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz, said: “The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area.”
Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting. This year it will begin on March 10.
Gantz says the IDF would act in “a co-ordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimise civilian casualties”.
Speculation has now begun on whether Palestinians could cross out of the Gaza Strip and seek refuge in Egypt. The nation itself has already expressed concern over Palestinians possibly being pushed over the border.
Despite international pressure however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas gunmen in Rafah through a ground offensive.
Since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel on October 7 – which saw 1,200 deaths and hundreds of people taken hostage – around 28,000 people have reportedly died in the Gaza Strip. A further 68,000 have been wounded.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says 127 Palestinians died over the past day alone, with another 205 injured during the last 24 hours.
