A recent poll revealed Friday that the majority of Israeli settlers prefer a ceasefire agreement with Hamas over an Israeli military invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where 1.2 million people have sought refuge, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.
The poll, conducted by the Lazar Institute for Studies, found that 54% of the surveyed settlers prefer reaching a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian Resistance group over the Rafah invasion.
The breakdown shows that 79% of voters for right-wing parties support the invasion of Rafah, while 81% of voters for left-wing and centrist parties prefer a swap deal.
It also found that “38% prefer the military operation over reaching a deal, while 8% have no specific opinion on the matter.”
For months, Israeli settlers and families of the captives held in the Gaza Strip have taken to the streets frustrated by the failure of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to retrieve the remaining captives militarily and through negotiations.
But Netanyahu said Tuesday that an invasion of Rafah will take place regardless of whether an exchange deal with Hamas was reached or not.
“The idea that we will stop the war before all its goals have been achieved is irrelevant. We will enter Rafah and destroy Hamas battalions there, with or without an agreement [on hostages], to achieve absolute victory,” he told families of the captives held in the Strip.
But the United States reiterated Friday its objections to the looming invasion, saying that “Israel” has not presented a plan to protect the civilians sheltering in Rafah.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” the US Secretary of States said.
This comes amid ongoing talks over a ceasefire taking place in the Egyptian capital Cairo under the mediation of host Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
Hamas said Friday its delegation was heading to Cairo on Saturday to resume talks, as the movement is expected to deliver a response in the coming days to a proposal to halt fighting for 40 days and exchange Israeli captives for Palestinian detainees.
The Palestinian Resistance group pointed out that it acted in a positive spirit while studying the ceasefire proposal it recently received, adding that its delegation is heading to Cairo in the same spirit to try and reach an agreement.
It also affirmed that Palestinian Resistance factions are determined to reach an agreement that would secure the demands of the Palestinian people which include stopping the Israeli aggression against them and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza along with the return of the displaced Palestinians to their homes, reconstruction and reaching a captives deal.
