The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned on Sunday March 17 that the “international pressure” would not prevent Israel from launching an offensive in Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip where there are nearly 1.5 million 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 his government meeting, according to a press release sent by his services.
“In the international community, some are trying to stop the war now, before all objectives have been achieved”believes Benyamin Netanyahu. “They do this by making false accusations against the IDF, the government of Israel [et lui-même] »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 an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Friday, after the announcement of Mr. Netanyahu’s approval of “action plans” of the army for an offensive in Rafah, the German Foreign Ministry had declared that such an offensive ” born [pouvait] 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 about the risks facing the civilian population of Rafah, and the White House demanded Friday to be able to take note of the “plans” of Israel in preparation for this offensive. The head of the World Health Organization, for his part, urged Israel on Saturday to abandon 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 even though the human toll there is very heavy.
According to Hamas, more than 60 Palestinians died in Israeli strikes carried out in the Gaza Strip overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Among them, twelve 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 Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, administered by Hamas, published a new report: 31,553 deaths since October 7.
The raids were intense in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza City, in the north, and in the towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah, in the south, according to witnesses. Fierce fighting pitted Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters in Khan Younes and Gaza.