Israel tightens the timing of the attack on Rafah : according to the testimony of an Associated Press journalist, the IDF has "massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles along the southern border with the Gaza Strip", at the Israeli Kerem crossing Shalom, in what appear to be preparations for the invasion of the city on the border with Egypt , which Israel considers the last stronghold of Hamas and where around 1.4 million Palestinian civilians have taken refuge .
For Egypt, the Israeli military presence in the border city "would constitute a violation of the peace treaty and Cairo's response would be decisive ", an informed source told the Egyptian website Al Ahram.
And Egypt itself is currently busy mediating the agreement for the hostages: it fears the Palestinian "war refugees" who could enter Sinai following the assault on Rafah and is therefore in a hurry to propose an agreement to Hamas which it could also lead to the postponement of the operation in the southern city, as Cairo's own media revealed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli negotiating team has received the "green light" from the war cabinet with a specific mandate: «Flexibility in Israel's position so that, if there is a change due to military pressure, it will be possible to move forward quickly with an agreement ».
In the last few hours there has also been alarm for the Israeli ship MSC Darwin, which the Yemeni Houthi group, supported by Iran, claimed to have targeted in the Gulf of Aden, hitting it with naval missiles and drones.
(Unioneonline)
