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TEL AVIV, Israel – Israel will invade Rafah “with or without a deal” to free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday.
“The idea that we will stop the war before all our goals have been achieved is impossible. To achieve complete victory, we will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there, with or without a deal.” Netanyahu said. he said, according to a statement released by his office.
More than a million Palestinian refugees have fled to Rafah, a city along Gaza's southern border with Egypt. For months, Israeli forces have vowed to launch attacks there to combat Hamas operatives and infrastructure located there.
Concerned about the high civilian death toll and worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, which was already dire, aid groups and international leaders, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, have called on Israel to scale back its plans or cancel the offensive altogether. Health officials in the Gaza Strip said more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive since Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, negotiations brokered by Egypt over a potential ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas have raised hopes of a series of ceasefires and the release of some or all of the remaining hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees held by Israel. I caused it. (On October 7, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 240 in Israel, more than 100 of whom were released during a seven-day ceasefire in November.)
Netanyahu, whose prime ministerial office relies on a political coalition with ministers far to the right, now faces growing pressure from all sides over the possibility of a deal.
UN Secretary-General Guterres said on this day, “A military attack on Rafah would be an intolerable situation that would kill thousands of civilians and force hundreds of thousands to flee.” “I appeal to everyone with influence in Israel to do their best to stop this.”
On Sunday, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of Netanyahu's war cabinet, said: said social media site He said agreeing to the deal would be a “humiliating surrender” to the State of Israel and an “immediate existential threat.”
“If you decide to raise the white flag, your government will have no right to exist,” Smotrich warned, addressing Netanyahu directly.
Fellow hardliner National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gbir made a similar threat Tuesday. “I warned the prime minister: if God forbid Israel enters Rafah, if God forbid we end the war, there will be a reckless deal,” he said in a video statement. “I think the Prime Minister understands very well what it means if these things don’t happen.”
If right-wing parties withdraw their support for Netanyahu, the prime minister will have to form a new coalition to remain in power. (Opposition leader Yair Lapid has previously offered to act as Netanyahu's political lifeline to hammer out a deal to rescue the hostages.)
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There has perhaps been no more powerful public voice in Israel than that of the families of the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli government, 133 of those kidnapped on October 7 remain captive, and dozens of them are presumed dead.
Hamas used its own means to pressure negotiations by releasing two hostage videos last week. The video shows the three remaining hostages, two of whom are American citizens, alive.
The video again sparked outrage in Israel. Protests calling for new elections drew huge crowds in Tel Aviv on Saturday.
At a news conference Monday, families of the two hostages urged Netanyahu and the remaining members of his war cabinet to reach an agreement.
“If our government and Hamas do not reach an agreement now, that would be a very, very big setback, and no one can afford that – not Israel, not Hamas, not Gaza, not the Middle East, not the whole world,” Li said. said. Keith Siegel, a 72-year-old American-Israeli man, and his wife Aviva, who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, were released during a ceasefire in November.
When Aviva was released, the family felt hopeful that Keith, now 64, would soon be released. Instead, negotiations broke down and Israel resumed military operations. Keith has now been held hostage for over 200 days.
Other family members had more fiery words for right-wing ministers who have threatened to withdraw support for Netanyahu's government if he refuses to negotiate a rescue of the hostages.
“I suggest to Smotrich that he take off his kippah and stop saying he is Jewish,” said Dani Miran, whose son Omri was featured in the video this week.
Separately, in an English-language video statement released Tuesday, Netanyahu condemned reports that the International Criminal Court was preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials on charges related to the war against Hamas.
“This would be an insult of historic proportions,” Netanyahu said, recalling the roots of the International Criminal Court system immediately after World War II and the Holocaust.
Issuing an arrest warrant, he said, would “pour jet fuel on the fires of anti-Semitism already raging on American campuses and in capitals around the world.”
Itay Stern in Tel Aviv contributed reporting.