Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday March 17 that “international pressure” would not prevent Israel from launching an offensive in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip where nearly 1.5 million people are crowded together. Palestinians, according to the UN.
“No international pressure will prevent us from achieving all the objectives of our war” against the Palestinian movement Hamas, “we will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks but it will happen,” he said at the start of the meeting of his government, according to a press release sent by his services.
“Within the international community, some are trying to stop the war now, before all the objectives have been achieved,” believes Benjamin Netanyahu. “They do this by making false accusations against the IDF, the government of Israel [and itself],” he continued.
The statements come as Mr. Netanyahu is due to receive German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday, before convening the security cabinet to determine the position of the Israeli delegation due to visit Qatar soon for discussions on a possible six-week truce and a exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Friday, after the announcement of Mr. Netanyahu's approval of the army's "action plans" for an offensive in Rafah, the German Foreign Ministry insisted that such an offensive "would not ( could) be justified”. “More than a million people have taken refuge there and have nowhere to go. We need a ceasefire now,” added German diplomacy.
Raids
Washington has been warning for several weeks of the risk to the civilian population of Rafah, and the White House demanded on Friday to see Israel's "plans" for this offensive. The head of the World Health Organization notably urged Israel on Saturday to renounce this assault “in the name of humanity”.
A possible offensive in Rafah, where Mr. Netanyahu intends to eliminate "the last battalions of Hamas", is feared by the international community while the human toll there is very heavy.
According to Hamas, more than 60 Palestinians, including twelve from the same family, died in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip during the night from Saturday to Sunday. Among them, 12 members of the Thabet family whose home was hit at dawn by bombs in the Bichara district of Deir al-Balah (center). In the hours that followed, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip released a new death toll of 31,553 since October 7.
The raids were intense in Deir al-Balah, Gaza City in the north and the towns of Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, according to witnesses. Fierce fighting pitted Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in Khan Younes and Gaza City.
