TEL AVIV, February 10. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that amid international pressure, the operation to eradicate Hamas battalions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip should end within a month, by March 10, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 television channel, the prime minister recently told the military cabinet that, given international pressure, the operation in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip should end by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is celebrated between March 11 and April 9 in 2024, according to Arab astronomers. During the same meeting, the television channel reported, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Herzi Halevi told Netanyahu that the military was ready for the operation, but the Israeli government needs first to decide on a plan of action regarding the civilians displaced from the northern and central Gaza Strip, who are currently staying in Rafah and in the area along the Palestinian enclave’s border with Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that the prime minister had instructed the country’s military to work out a plan to evacuate civilians from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and exterminate Hamas battalions still entrenched in the city. On February 7, Netanyahu said that the Israeli military was ordered to prepare for an operation in the city of Rafah located near the border with Egypt.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres earlier warned against Israel’s plans to expand its military operation in Gaza to Rafah, which gives shelter to thousands of Palestinians as this will only worsen the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and over 240 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.