Hamas warns Israeli ground invasion of Rafah will blow up captive talks

The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has warned that any Israeli ground invasion of Gaza’s border city of Rafah, which shelters hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians, will “blow up” the captive exchange negotiations.

The Al-Aqsa television channel issued the warning while quoting a senior Hamas leader as saying on Sunday.

Hamas also said it would hold “the American administration, international community, and the Israeli occupation” responsible if Israelis invaded the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.

During a week-long truce in late November, Hamas freed more than 100 Israeli and foreign captives in exchange for Israel releasing about 240 Palestinian prisoners.

In response to a recent truce proposal, the Palestinian resistance movement has reportedly demanded a three-phase deal, 45 days each, to secure a prisoner-captive exchange, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, among other issues.

According to this draft, Hamas has also proposed indirect talks with the Israeli regime in the first stage to end the military aggression. The framework of the proposal was agreed to by negotiators in Paris at the end of last month.

Hamas also warned that Israel’s planned ground offensive in Rafah could cause tens of thousands of casualties.

Airstrikes on the town in recent days have killed dozens of Palestinians, including women and children.

The city lies on the border with Egypt and hosts some 1.4 million displaced Palestinians who have been forced to leave their homes due to heavy Israeli bombardments in other parts of Gaza.

Several global leaders have warned the planned Israeli offensive would cause a humanitarian catastrophe as Palestinians have nowhere to go.

“An Israeli offensive on Rafah would lead to an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe and grave tensions with Egypt,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell has said that the civilians in Rafah must be protected as they have nowhere to go.

“Rafah is one of the most densely populated places on earth, teeming with children and families, some already displaced many times by war in Gaza,” she said in a post on X.