Middle East crisis live: Israel will launch Rafah offensive next month if hostages held by Hamas not freed, says Gantz | Israel-Gaza war

Israel will launch its long-threatened offensive against Rafah next month if Hamas has not freed the remaining hostages held in Gaza by the start of Ramadan, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said.

“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,” Gantz, a retired military chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse.

Gantz made similar comments on a…