(Bloomberg) -- Israel is returning its focus to eliminating what it says is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas in Gaza — reviving international concerns about the fate of about one million civilians sheltering in the south of the strip.

As tensions with Iran ease, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged late Sunday to “increase the military and diplomatic pressure” on Hamas, with the goal of freeing the remaining hostages and declaring victory in the more than six-month war. That suggests an imminent and long-feared assault on Rafah, the Gazan city close to the Egyptian border where about half the enclave’s population have taken refuge. 

“We will land more and painful blows on Hamas — soon,” Netanyahu said, without being more specific.

The Israeli leader’s comments were followed by air strikes on Rafah — which had a pre-war population of about 280,000 — on Sunday and overnight into Monday. Authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said 24 Palestinians were killed. Most of the dead were women and children, according to the health ministry and local news reports.

Israel has long signaled an intention to launch a ground operation in the small city to achieve its goal of destroying Hamas, a response to the group’s Oct. 7 invasion in the south of the country that killed about 1,200 people. Israeli military officials estimate 5,000 to 8,000 Hamas fighters are holed up in Rafah, along with some of its leaders, representing the last line of its defense. 

But the plan has been on hold for several weeks, most recently due to Israel’s need to focus on the tense confrontation with Iran, which has sparked fears around the world of a broader regional conflict.

Read More: Why Rafah Is Raising Fears in Israel-Hamas War: QuickTake

The US has strongly urged Israel not to invade Rafah — at least while the city remains a safe haven for so many civilians. Palestinians in Gaza have been fleeing south since Israel began its campaign, largely at the military’s behest. Large swathes of the enclave have been leveled in the conflict, with the two biggest cities suffering a particularly fierce bombardment, and health authorities say more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed. 

Iran-backed Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, still holds about 130 of the initial 250 hostages taken on Oct. 7, although some are understood to be dead. Netanyahu is under intense pressure domestically to secure their safe return, with anti-government rallies attracting tens of thousands of protesters, including the families of abductees.

Israel has a range of options for how to invade Rafah, according to an Israeli official with knowledge of the preparations. The country’s military doesn’t necessarily need to attack the city with all its might — which would likely worsen a humanitarian crisis — and could instead move forces from one neighborhood to the next and evacuate civilians at the same time, the person said.

Israel is preparing a significant expansion of the humanitarian zone in Gaza in preparation for a ground entry into Rafah, according to the Arabic-language unit of Israeli state broadcaster Kan. That will enable it to accommodate about one million displaced people, while five field hospitals are planned for the area, Kan said Monday. 

US officials have denied reports that Washington struck a deal with Israel that gave a green light for a Rafah invasion in return for limited retaliation against Iran for its recent large-scale attack. Tehran carried out an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel on April 14, a response to a deadly air strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus two weeks earlier. 

Read More: Understanding the Dangerous Israel-Iran Conflict: QuickTake

Israel and it allies intercepted almost all the projectiles, and the Jewish state reportedly responded with more limited fire on Friday. Iran downplayed that assault as a failure, indicating it doesn’t plan to hit back. 

‘Shared Objective’

Top Israeli and US officials last week discussed both Iran and the Rafah plans, agreeing “on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah,” the White House said in a statement on April 18. “US participants expressed concerns with various courses of action in Rafah, and Israeli participants agreed to take these concerns into account.”

Egypt’s role is another concern, as the North African nation refuses to allow Israel to send Gazans into its territory. Cairo believes allowing them en masse would present a security threat to Egypt and betray Palestinians’ cause for an independent state, and has repeatedly warned against an attack on the city. Egypt has also denied reports it has made contingency plans to accommodate the displaced near the border.

With Israel-Hamas negotiations on a deal to free the hostages deadlocked, the Rafah assault is likely to go ahead, said Eyal Hulata, Israel’s national security adviser until early last year.

“Unfortunately there doesn’t seem like there is a chance for a hostage deal at the moment so Israel doesn’t have any other option,” said Hulata, who’s now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which supports stronger action against Iran.

Still, a lengthy campaign may spark further criticism from Israelis that Netanyahu and his government are turning their backs on the hostages.

“The takeover of Rafah will take months,” former Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned in a recent Israeli radio interview. “If we return in six months to the matter of the abductees we will find ourselves in a situation where they are coming back in coffins.”

--With assistance from Fares Akram, Fadwa Hodali and Gina Turner.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.