“Even if we achieve that, we will be in Rafah,” he said (File)
Tel Aviv, Israel:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that critics calling on Israel not to take military action against Rafah were effectively telling the country to “lose the war against Hamas.”
The Israeli prime minister vowed to “destroy” Palestinian groups that attacked Israel on October 7 and said the military would intervene regardless of whether the hostages were released.
“Even if we achieve this, we will be in Rafa,” he told a televised news conference.
Israel faces growing calls, including from its closest ally the United States, to delay sending troops to the southern Gaza city, where some 1.4 million people have fled.
The military insists it is working to evacuate civilians from the area to minimize casualties, but has not disclosed specific details of the evacuation plan.
Talks have been held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to try to broker a moratorium in the fighting, while aid agencies are increasingly concerned about a lack of food, water and medicine in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said any solution “can only be reached through direct negotiations between the two parties, without preconditions” and dismissed Hamas’s demands as “ridiculous.”
“Israel under my leadership will continue to strongly oppose unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state,” he added.
“After the horrific massacre of October 7, there is no greater reward for terrorism than this, and it will hinder any future peaceful resolution.”
Thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, accusing Netanyahu’s government of abandoning hostages kidnapped in the Oct. 7 attack and still being held in Gaza.
They chanted that the government had “blood on its hands” and called on Israel to negotiate. Among them was Yair Mozes, whose father Gadi was also among the prisoners.
He added: “I regret that the Prime Minister did not see the need to send a representative to the Cairo negotiations because all parties and mediators are in Cairo except Israel.”
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