By Athena Papakosta

At a sensitive moment where even the smallest detail can blow up the ongoing talks to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza Strip and while the United States, Egypt and Qatar remain cautiously optimistic that Hamas will accept the deal proposal on the table, its prime minister IsraelBenjamin Netanyahu, with his new statements threatens to blow everything up.

After meeting hostage families at noon on Holy Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister announced that Israel would invade Rafah, whether or not Hamas agreed to Israel’s latest ceasefire proposal.

“Stopping the war before we achieve all our goals is out of the question,” the Israeli prime minister said, adding that “we will invade Rafah and neutralize the Hamas brigades in it, with or without an agreement, in order to achieve total victory”.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has repeatedly emphasized to the Prime Minister of Israel that a ground intervention by the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in Rafah is a red line for Washington. However, with his latest statements, Benjamin Netanyahu declares that he is ready to pass it.

Yesterday, Holy Tuesday, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, stressed that an attack on Rafa would be a “significant escalation” calling on all “those who have influence in Israel to do everything in their power to prevent it”. .

Today, early in the morning, Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken will meet in Israel with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He has already called again on Hamas to accept “without further delay” and “without further excuses” the proposal for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is still considering whether to accept Israel’s counterproposal. Her delegation has now left the Egyptian capital to brief senior officials of the Palestinian Islamist group. Arab media reports that Hamas will return to the mediators by today, Wednesday, with updates on its response.

For its part, Israel, through an unnamed official, told AFP that Tel Aviv would first wait for the Palestinian organization’s response and then consider whether and if it would give the green light for the departure of the Israeli mission to Cairo. .

According to the information so far, the agreement includes a ceasefire for up to 40 days between Israel and Hamas in exchange for the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, while it will also allow the families of the displaced to return to their homes in the north part of the Gaza Strip. According to reports in the agreement, there is talk of an additional stage which concerns a “permanent period of calm” in response to Hamas’s constant request for a permanent ceasefire.

As Israel has reported, 133 hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, of which 30 are believed to be dead.