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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah would go ahead whatever the response by Hamas to the latest proposals for a halt to the fighting and a return of Israeli hostages. Expectations that a ceasefire agreement could be in sight have grown in recent days following a renewed push led by Egypt to revive stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Gaza's ruling Palestinian Islamist group. However Mr Netanyahu said that with or without a deal, Israel intended to pursue the operation to destroy the remaining Hamas combat formations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Gaza Palestinians displaced from their homes amid Israeli military operations elsewhere since October have been seeking shelter. "We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement. United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said that any invasion of Rafah would represent "an unbearable escalation" that would kill thousands of civilians and force hundreds of thousands to flee. Earlier, a person close to Mr Netanyahu said Israel has been waiting for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals tabled by Egypt, one of several foreign mediators, before sending a team to Cairo to continue talks. So far there has been little sign of agreement on the most fundamental difference between the two sides — the Hamas demand that any deal must ensure a withdrawal of troops and a permanent end to the Israeli operation in Gaza. "We can't tell our people the occupation will stay or the fight will resume after Israel regains its prisoners," said a Palestinian official from a group allied with Hamas. "Our people want this aggression to end." For Mr Netanyahu, any move is likely to be affected by divisions in his coalition cabinet between ministers pressing to bring home at least some of the 133 Israeli hostages left in Gaza, and hardliners insisting on the long-promised assault on remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah. The US state department said on Tuesday that it had not seen a credible plan addressing its concerns for the more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there. Loading... Israeli officials have expressed concern in recent days that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is preparing warrants for senior government officials, in what would be the most serious international legal action taken against Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October. The ICC — which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — is investigating Hamas's October 7 cross-border attack and Israel's devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month. Mr Netanyahu said that if the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for government officials on charges related to the conduct of Israel's war against Hamas it would be a scandal on a historic scale. Instructions: Use left and right arrow keys to control image transition SLIDEICC probes ongoing
Before: Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City before the war.. . After: View on April 1, 2024 following the Israeli military's two-week raid. (Supplied: Maxar Technologies). .
"The possibility that they will issue arrest warrants for war crimes against IDF (Israel Defense Force) commanders and state leaders, this possibility is a scandal on a historic scale," Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement.
United Nations bodies and human-rights groups have accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, something it denies.
Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognise its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.
In October, the ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan said the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed by Islamist Hamas fighters in Israel and by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu said that any ICC arrest warrants would not affect Israel's actions and, he said, would be the first time that a democratic country was accused by the court of war crimes.
"I want to make one thing clear: no decision, neither in The Hague nor anywhere else, will harm our determination to achieve all the goals of the war — the release of all our hostages, a complete victory over Hamas and a promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel," he said.
Prosecutors from the ICC have interviewed staff from Gaza's two biggest hospitals, sources told Reuters, the first confirmation that the court's investigators were speaking to medics about possible crimes in Gaza.
One of the sources said that events surrounding the hospitals could become part of the investigation by the ICC.
Reuters
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