Defiant Netanyahu promises attack on Rafah
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has escalated his pledge to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, declaring: “There is a date.”
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel must send ground forces into Rafah, saying it is Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza.
But the international community, including the US, opposes the operation, saying the roughly 1.4 million civilians seeking shelter there will be in danger. Israel has insisted it has a plan to protect the civilians.
In a video statement yesterday, Mr Netanyahu said the Rafah operation is essential for victory. “It will happen. There is a date,” he said, without elaborating.
He spoke as Israeli negotiators were in Cairo discussing international efforts to broker a ceasefire deal with Hamas.
Israel’s top ally, the US, has said invading Rafah would be a mistake and has demanded to see a credible plan to protect civilians.
Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of Rafah, an Israel official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Israel’s military quietly drew down troops in devastated northern Gaza earlier in the war. But it has continued to carry out airstrikes and raids in areas where it says Hamas regrouped, including Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, leaving what the head of the World Health Organisation called “an empty shell”.
Mr Netanyahu’s announcement came as streams of Palestinians filed into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis yesterday to salvage what they could from the vast destruction left in the wake of Israel’s offensive, a day after the Israeli military announced it was withdrawing troops from the area.
Allowing people to return to Khan Younis could relieve some pressure on Rafah, but many have no homes to return to. The city also is likely to be filled with dangerous unexploded ordnance left by the fighting.
Many came back to the Gaza Strip’s second-largest city a day after the Israeli military announced it was withdrawing troops from the area to find their former hometown unrecognisable.
With scores of buildings destroyed or damaged, piles of rubble now sit whereapartments and businesses once did, streets have been bulldozed and schools and hospitals were damaged by the fighting.
“Many areas, especially the city centre, have become unfit for life ,” said Mahmoudwho fled khan younis in December when israel invaded the city.
“I found that my house and my neighbours’ houses turned to rubble.”
Israel said the city was a major Hamas stronghold, adding that its operation over the past few months killed thousands of militants and inflicted heavy damage to a vast network of tunnels used by Hamas to move weapons and fighters.
With no military presence in the city, Hamas could seek to regroup there as it has in other areas where the military has scaled back forces.