TEL AVIV: Israel has demanded the release of at least 33 hostages by Hamas to prevent the planned attack on the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Sources in the Israeli Defence Ministry told IANS that the demand was put forward by Mossad chief David Barnea before the visiting Egyptian delegation headed by its intelligence chief Major General Abbas Kamel.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has already expressed his country's concern over the planned attack on Rafah to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the latter's recent visit to Cairo.
Egypt fears that an attack on the Rafah region would lead to civilian catastrophe as well as a huge refugee exodus to Egypt as Rafah borders the Sinai region of the country.
Israel, citing its internal report, has said that of the 129 Israeli hostages, there are 33 people who fall in the category of aged, women, and ill. According to Israel, many of the 129 hostages are dead.
Israel has also said that it would not allow any time buying tactics by Hamas led by Yahya Sinwar, its military commander and the "mastermind of the October 7, 2023 massacre".
Israeli intelligence has claimed that Sinwar is in Rafah in one of the Hamas tunnels with the Israeli hostages as human shields.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has already deployed its elite Nahal Brigade in Rafah ahead of the planned attack.