Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu gives green light for major attack on Rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the IDF’s “plan” for an operation in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The military offensive, which has not been filtered, provoked protests from the United States and the UN.

Which doesn’t slow down the leader of the Hebrew state, who decides to “retreat” into Rafah to “eliminate the Hamas battalion.”

A large-scale offensive against Rafah is being prepared. While he has been vowing for weeks to continue the war until Hamas is eliminated, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the nod. “Action Plan” Tsahlani, considering the operation on the town south of the Gaza Strip, located on the closed border with Egypt, and where, according to the UN, one and a half million Palestinians are fleeing. Bombings and fights.

“Israeli army ready for operational side and population evacuation”, according to a press release sent to the press on Friday March 15, which does not give further details about this major invasion announced long ago. An operation that the United States and the United Nations continue to warn against.

“I will continue to resist the pressure. We will enter Rafah. We will complete the elimination of the Hamas battalions.”However repeated, Thursday March 14, At X (formerly Twitter) Benjamin Netanyahu, despite opposition from Washington, who fears for the lives of refugees there. The Israeli leader last month asked the military to present a plan to evacuate civilians. The IDF submitted it to the war cabinet at the end of February, without any filtering.

Warning from the White House

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who visited Vienna, said “Haven’t seen any plans yet” Provided by Israel, while the United States demanded it “A clear plan that can be implemented”

.

The White House immediately said, “I wish I had the chance to see it”. “We will not support a plan that does not take into account a million and a half Palestinians.” Refugees in the area, warned John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council.

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  According to Netanyahu, not invading Rafah means Israel will “lose the war” against Hamas.

“Mass invasion in Rafah cannot be justified”X reacted to German diplomacy two days before Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Israel. “More than a million people have taken refuge there and have nowhere to go. A ceasefire is needed now.”

Fear of “new carnage”.

In Ramallah, West Bank, expressed the presidency of the Palestinian Authority “Its deep concern about the imminence of an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, which could lead to new genocide and new population displacement”According to the official Palestinian agency Wafa. “The President urged swift intervention from the American administration and the international community to avert this military offensive.”

The announcement of approval of the IDF’s plans for the operation on Rafah is expected to resume hostage negotiations in Gaza with the announcement that an Israeli delegation will be sent to Doha, Qatar.