Netanyahu again vows to invade Rafah if a Cease-Fire Deal isn’t reached
Israel will invade Gaza if there is no cease-fire agreement, and with or without a deal: Netanyahu meets the families of displaced hostages in Rafah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel will invade Gaza if there is no deal to release hostages.
The United States, Qatar and several countries have been pushing to get a cease-fire deal, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visiting the region and expectations rising that Hamas and Israel might be edging closer to an agreement.
But with Hamas arguing that any agreement should include an end to the war, and with right-wing politicians in Israel threatening to leave the government coalition if the long-planned incursion into Rafah is delayed, Mr. Netanyahu made clear that Israel would reserve the right to keep fighting.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a meeting with the families of hostages held in Gaza, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory.”
The city of Rafah has seen more than one million displaced Palestinians flee to it. For months Israel’s military has vowed to stage an offensive there in order to combat what they say are Hamas operatives.
On Tuesday, the scale of the evacuee from areas in Gaza that had already been attacked by Israeli forces remained unclear, as some families were moving north in anticipation of an offensive. As of last week, more than one million Gazans, many of them previously displaced from other parts of the territory by Israeli bombardment, were still sheltering in the city in makeshift tents.
American officials and other allies have been pressing Israel to either avoid an assault on Rafah or develop specific plans to adequately minimize civilian casualties.
The Prime Minister of Britain spoke to the Prime Minister of Israel. The British leader “continued to push for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in and hostages out” and said that Britain’s focus was on de-escalation, it said.
Cease-fire talks had been at a standstill for weeks. But Israeli officials have said that negotiators had reduced the number of hostages they want Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce, opening up the possibility that the stalled negotiations could be revived.
A senior Hamas official spoke on anonymity to say that a Hamas delegation met with Egyptian officials on Monday.
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Fearing a high civilian death toll and a worsening of Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation, aid groups and international leaders, including the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, have urged Israel to scale back its plans or cancel the offensive entirely. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu, whose position as prime minister is dependent on a political coalition with ministers even further to his right, now faces increasing pressure from all sides on the possibility of a deal.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations said that there would be consequences if a military assault on the city were to happen. I appeal to everyone with influence over Israel to do everything they can to prevent it.
The finance minister of Israel’s war cabinet said on the social network site X on Sunday that he would not support a deal with Iran and that it would pose an “existential threat” to Israel.
The national security minister had a similar threat on Tuesday. “I warned the prime minister, if God forbid Israel does not enter Rafah, if God forbid we end the war, if God forbid there will be a reckless deal,” he said in a video statement. “I think the prime minister knows what he’s doing if these things don’t happen.”
A new coalition will be formed if Netanyahu’s right-wing parties withdraw their support. (Opposition leader Yair Lapid has previously offered to serve as a political lifeline for Netanyahu in order to reach a deal to free the hostages.)
Hamas has released two hostage videos in the past week, trying to get the attention of the negotiations. In the videos, three of the remaining hostages — two of them American citizens — are seen alive.
It’s many, many steps backward if our government and Hamas can’t come to a deal. And no one can afford that — not Israel, not Hamas, not Gaza, not the Middle East, not the world,” said Lee Siegel, 72, the brother of Keith Siegel, an American-Israeli man kidnapped from kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7 along with his wife, Aviva, who was released during the November cease-fire.
When Aviva was released, the family had felt hopeful that Keith, who’s now 64 years old, would be released soon after. Instead, negotiations fell apart and Israel resumed its military campaign. Keith has now been a hostage for more than 200 days.
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Other family members had more fiery words for the right-wing ministers who have threatened to pull their support for the government should Netanyahu refuse a deal to free the hostages.
“I suggest that Smotrich remove his hat and stop saying he is Jewish, because those are not the values of Judaism I am raised on,” said Miran, whose son appeared in a video this week.
Netanyahu decried the reports in the video that the International Criminal court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials on charges related to the war on Hamas.
Netanyahu referenced the roots of the international criminal court system in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.
To issue an arrest warrant would be to “will pour jet fuel on the fire of antisemitism, those fires that are already raging on the campuses of America and across capitals around the world,” he said.
