Iran, Hamas ‘plan October 7 part two during Ramadan’: Israel

Israel warns Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas will use Ramadan to inflame the region and create another October 7, despite rising hopes of a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) talks with Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (L) in Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP.

Israel has warned Iran and its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas will use Ramadan to inflame the region and create another October 7, despite rising hopes Israel and Hamas will agree a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month, which begins on March 10.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops that Iran wanted to provoke Palestinians by using potential restrictions at the sacred Temple Mount and tensions in the West Bank to create “the second stage of October 7, and ignite the ground.”

“Hamas’s main goal is to take Ramadan, with an emphasis on the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, and turn it into the second phase of their plan that began on October 7. This is the main goal of Hamas, it is being amplified by Iran and Hezbollah,” Mr Gallant said.

“We must not give Hamas what it has not been able to achieve since the beginning of the war and converge the combat fronts.”

Hezbollah militants attend the funeral of one of the militant group's commanders killed by an Israeli air raid. Picture: AFP.

Mr Gallant made the warning as he attempts to prevent a push by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to restrict access to the Temple Mount – a sacred site for both Jews and Palestinians – for Israeli-Arabs or Palestinians during Ramadan. Mr Gallant is also pushing for certain Palestinian workers from the West Bank to be allowed to return to work for their Israeli employees, in a move to ease tensions on the West Bank.

His statement to troops came despite the US and Qatar saying they were “hopeful” a new truce between Israel and Hamas could be secured within days, after President Joe Biden said a ceasefire could start next week and last through Ramadan.

In the protracted bid to broker a ceasefire nearly five months into the devastating war, Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been putting proposals to the parties.

Negotiators are seeking a six-week halt to the fighting and the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war.

Several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel may also be released under the deal, media reports suggest.

“My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire” but “we’re not done yet”, Mr Biden told reporters on Tuesday AEDT, surprising Israeli officials.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Doha was “hopeful, not necessarily optimistic, that we can announce something” before Thursday.

“We are going to push for a pause before the beginning of Ramadan”, Mr Ansari said.

“We are all aiming towards that target, but the situation is still fluid on the ground.”

There has been huge international pressure for Israel to hold off on sending troops into Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinian civilians have sought refuge.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that any truce would delay, not prevent, a ground invasion of Rafah in Gaza’s far south, which he said was necessary to achieve “total victory” over Hamas.

Cairo’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warned that any assault on Rafah, a key entry point for aid on Gaza’s border with Egypt, “would have catastrophic repercussions” across the region.

Mr Netanyahu has faced increasing public pressure over the fate of the remaining hostages, and Israeli municipal elections on Tuesday could offer a gauge of the public mood.

Mr Ben-Gvir said the Prime Minister should not accept Hamas’s “delusional requests” in negotiations, adding that “the war must continue”, according to news website Ynet.

With AFP