Not entering Rafah, for Benjamin Netanyahu, would mean "losing the war". This was said in an interview with ABC by the Israeli prime minister who thus rejects the requests made to his country to avoid a military offensive in the southernmost city of Gaza, which has become a refuge for almost a million displaced Palestinians pushed south by war.
“Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are essentially telling us to lose the war. Keep Hamas there,” Netanyahu said: “We will take the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion.”
Hamas, for its part, warned that Israel's planned military operation in overcrowded Rafah could cause "tens of thousands" of casualties in the city. Israeli military action would have catastrophic repercussions that "could cause tens of thousands of martyrs and injuries if Rafah... were invaded," Hamas said in a statement.
(Unioneonline/ss)
