Israel is positioning itself as a regional energy hub and has committed to supply natural gas to Europe, which has been diversifying away from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call for the IDF to draw up a plan for evacuating Palestinian civilians from the southermost city in the Strip.
According to the officials cited by the report, the hostages were taken to "locations that Israel was not able to reach even during previous incursions" in the Gaza Strip.
The US wants Israel to succeed in destroying Hamas, he said, but it also must ensure the protection of civilians as it does so, including in Rafah.
This might be the worst-case scenario for Israel, but it would be very risky for Sinwar because of the high probability of being caught by the Egyptians.
Rafah has been important to Hamas for decades as part of its smuggling operations and to control the flow of humanitarian aid crossing the border.
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