Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticizes calls to Israel to avoid a military offensive inside Rafah, reports The Times of Israel.
“We will seize the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion,” Netanyahu told ABC. “Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying that we should lose the war,” he charged.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli military to make plans for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah, meaning an estimated 1.3 million people, many of whom have already been displaced from other parts of the enclave and who say they have nowhere else to go. .
Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt, is one of the only regions not yet targeted by an Israeli ground offensive and provides refuge for more than half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million population. It is the last bastion of Hamas, after more than four months of conflict triggered by the militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel.
The international community expressed concern after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to “prepare” an offensive in Rafah. More and more countries are warning about the consequences of such a plan and say it would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
