Benjamin Netanyahu says victory is “within reach” in interview (File/Reuters)
Washington:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a television interview on Sunday that Israel would advance toward Rafah in southern Gaza, despite widespread concerns about the possible casualties, and vowed to provide civilians with escape options from the crowded city. “Exit”.
“Victory is within reach. We will do it. We will destroy Hama in Rafah, the last bastion,” Netanyahu told ABC News in an excerpt from “This Week with George.” The remaining terrorist camps in Sri Lanka. “Stephanopoulos'” interview was released Saturday night.
While the international community is alarmed by the possibility of a massacre in a place packed with more than half of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, Netanyahu said: “We will do it while providing safe passage for civilians. “
However, it is unclear where the large number of people flooding into Egypt’s border, many of whom are sheltering in makeshift tents, are heading.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers warned that Rafah could cause “tens of thousands” of casualties, while EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell joined other international voices in saying an offensive there “would lead to difficult a humanitarian disaster.”
The United States, Israel’s main backer, said it did not support a ground attack on Rafah and warned that such an operation would risk a “catastrophe” if not planned properly.
Asked where people should go, Netanyahu said: “You know, we have cleared the area north of Rafah, there are a lot of areas there. But, we are working on a detailed plan.”
“Those who say that we should not enter Rafah under any circumstances are basically saying, ‘Lost the war. Leave Hamas there,'” the prime minister said.
Gaza’s health ministry said a massive Israeli offensive has killed at least 28,064 people since October 7, mostly women and children.
But Netanyahu claimed on ABC that civilian deaths accounted for a much smaller proportion of the total death toll.
“I can tell you that, according to these urban warfare experts and other commentators, we have reduced the civilian to terrorist casualty ratio to less than 1 to 1… We are going to do the following: more.”
He said Israeli forces “killed and wounded more than 20,000 Hamas terrorists, including approximately 12,000 … fighters.” Netanyahu did not specify how he distinguished between “terrorists” and “fighters.”
The last time Israel provided such figures was on January 9, when it said some 9,000 Hamas militants had been killed.
Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
U.S. President Joe Biden has issued his strongest criticism yet of Israel, calling its response on Thursday “going too far.”
Netanyahu told ABC News that he appreciated Biden’s “support for Israel since the war began,” but that he “didn’t know exactly what he meant.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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