“We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains adamant about invading Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to bow to international pressure to halt his government’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
“No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday. “In order to do this, we will operate in Rafah.”
Despite international warnings, Netanyahu on Friday approved military plans for a ground invasion of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge from Israel’s ongoing assault on the enclave.
He said, “Since the start of the war, we have been fighting on two fronts, military and diplomatic.”
“It is no secret that the international pressure is increasing in the international community,” Netanyahu added. “There are those who are trying to stop the war now before all of its goals have been achieved.”
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He claimed this was being done “by hurling false accusations” at the Israeli military, the government of Israel and its Prime Minister, in “an effort to bring about elections now, at the height of the war.”
The PM said such elections “will halt the war and paralyze the country for at least six months.’
If the war was stopped now, he added, “before all of its goals are achieved, this means that Israel will have lost the war, and this we will not allow…we cannot and will not succumb to this pressure.”
“Therefore, I reiterate: We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen.”
Schumer’s Criticism
On Thursday, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Netanyahu’s leadership saying the PM “has lost his way” and called on Israel to hold new elections.
Netanyahu termed Schumer’s comments as “totally inappropriate.”
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“It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” he added.
Netanyahu further on Sunday said, “Those who say that the action in Rafah will not occur are those who also said that we would not enter Gaza, or act in Shifa or in Khan Yunis, and that we would not resume the fighting after the lull.”
Over 31,700 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,726 Palestinians have been killed, and 73,792 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed, and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
