No operation in Rafah until “population is closed”, assures Netanyahu

Interview with Benjamin Netanyahu at BBCGrowing international opposition to Israeli operation in Rafah, intense fighting across the Gaza Strip… Your newspaper Le Figaro This Sunday, March 17, takes stock of the situation.

No operations in Rafah until the “population is closed”.

Israel’s prime minister assured German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday that Israel would not launch military operations in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, until the population “Locked in place“

Such an attack is feared by the international community because about 1.5 million Palestinians are crammed into the city.

No cease-fire agreement that weakens Israel

In front of the press, after his meeting with Olaf Scholz, Benjamin Netanyahu explained that he would not accept Israel making peace.weak» Confronting its neighbors in the Middle East

“If we are offered a deal, a peace path that leaves Israel weak and unable to defend itself (…), it will restore peace.» He said that a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is currently being negotiated after more than five months of war

Netanyahu’s dry response to American Schumer

On Thursday, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the US Senate and a historic supporter of Israel, declared that Benjamin Netanyahu was “an obstacle» For peace in the Middle East. Sunday in an interview with BBCBenjamin Netanyahu responded that he “Trying to change the elected leaders of sister democracies is inappropriate” For Israel’s prime minister, the vote should be of interest only to the Israeli population and be held after the war to avoid the country’s paralysis that has cost it dearly in the war against Hamas.

Faced with criticism targeting him and specifically trying to discourage him from leading an offensive in Rafah in the coming weeks, Netanyahu declared: “To our friends in the international community, I say: Do you have such a short memory? Have you so quickly forgotten October 7, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust?»

Schumer’s comments betrayed growing frustration with the Israeli prime minister’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Organized security meeting

A meeting of Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet is being held this Sunday. It concerns negotiations for a possible ceasefire in Gaza. Despite international pressure for a ceasefire, Israel’s prime minister, who has vowed to destroy Hamas, is determined to continue the war and his army continues to bombard the besieged Palestinian territory.

Raids were intense in Gaza City in the north and Deir al-Balah in the towns of Khan Younes and Rafah in the south, according to witnesses. Heavy fighting broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in Khan Younes and Gaza City.

New death toll

Hamas’ health ministry on Sunday announced a new toll of 31,645 people killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Of these, 92 were killed in the last 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a total of 73,676 have been injured since the start of the war on October 7.

Inadequate support

Considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, Hamas said it was open to a new proposal for a six-week ceasefire, during which 42 hostages – women, children, the elderly and the sick – could be released in exchange. For every hostage, 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners are released.

Movement is also called “Withdrawal of troops from all towns and populated areas”The “Return of the Displaced” And at least 500 aid trucks enter Gaza every day, one of its executives said. Israel controls the entry of land aid into the Gaza Strip, which remains woefully inadequate for the needs of the 2.4 million residents, most of whom are at risk of famine, according to the UN.

While departing from Cyprus, a boat belonging to the Spanish NGO Open Arms, carrying 200 tons of food from the organization World Kitchen Central, unloaded its cargo in Gaza. Aid must be delivered to the north of the Palestinian Territory, where the humanitarian situation is particularly dire. Another aid boat is ready to go, according to Cyprus. In addition, some Arab and Western countries continued to send food to Gaza. But for the UN, aid by land is important.