Netanyahu says he will not bow to pressure to call off Rafah invasion
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Saturday that Israel would not bow to international pressure to abandon its plan for a ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, now packed with more than a million Palestinians.
Many of the people now in Rafah have been displaced and are living in schools, tents or the homes of friends and relatives, part of a desperate search for a safe haven from the Israeli military campaign that has dragged on for more than four months . Their lives are a daily struggle to find enough food and water to survive.
“Those who want to prevent us from operating in Rafah are essentially telling us: lose the war,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in Jerusalem on Saturday evening. “It is true that there is a lot of opposition abroad, but this is exactly the moment when we have to say that we will not do half or a third of the work.”
At about the same time Netanyahu addressed the news conference, thousands of anti-government demonstrators filled a central thoroughfare in Tel Aviv – the largest protest against the prime minister in months. They filled the same street where mass protests against Netanyahu's attempts to weaken the country's judiciary roiled the nation before the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Calls for immediate elections rose above the din of air horns. Protesters lit a red torch in the center of a drum circle, while others with flags stared at a half-dozen mounted police officers.
“The people must rise up, and the government must go,” said one protester, Yuval Lerner, 57. Mr. Lerner said that even before the war he had lost confidence that the government has the country's best interests at heart, but “October. 7 have proven it,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu's comments also came as world leaders and international organizations sounded the alarm that an invasion of Rafah would only worsen the humanitarian disaster for displaced Palestinians.
Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat, reiterated on Saturday his call for Israel to refrain from launching a military operation in Rafah “which would worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation.”
However, Mr Netanyahu said Palestinians would be allowed to leave Rafah, claiming there was “plenty of space” north of the city for civilians to resettle.
The Israeli leader downplayed the chances of a quick breakthrough in indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages. He said Hamas – the armed group that long controlled Gaza and which led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that started the war – made “ridiculous” demands during those negotiations.
Explaining his decision to block Israeli officials from participating in follow-up negotiations in Cairo earlier this week, the prime minister went on to say that Hamas had not compromised on its “one nanometer” demands.
“There is nothing to do until we see a change,” he added.
Earlier on Saturday, Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas's political wing, issued a statement accusing Israel of “delay” in acceding to Hamas's demands. Hamas has called for a comprehensive ceasefire, the reconstruction of Gaza, the end of Israel's blockade of the territory and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
President Biden told a news conference on Friday that he did not expect Israel to invade Rafah while efforts to free the hostages were underway.
South Africa this week asked the International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest judicial body, to intervene to stop Israel's planned advance on Rafah. But on Friday the court refused to impose new restrictions to prevent such a raid.
Instead, the report said that the “dangerous situation” in Gaza, including in Rafah, required Israel to adhere to its earlier ruling last month, including taking “all measures within its power” to end the crime of genocide by his armed forces.
Mr Netanyahu has called the accusation that Israel is guilty of genocide “false” and “outrageous.”
Israeli officials have insisted that an incursion into Rafah is necessary to destroy tunnels between Egypt and Gaza and try to root out Palestinian militants there. But the Israelis have not yet presented a plan to evacuate civilians as the US, Israel's closest ally, has demanded.
Many civilians sheltering in Rafah have already moved several times as Israel's military campaign has moved further south, and some say their homes north of the city have been destroyed and they have grown tired of repeated moves.
“If they want to come here – among all these people – there will be massacres,” said Khalil el-Halabi, 70, one of many displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza who have sought shelter in Rafah.
Some displaced Palestinians have now retreated north towards Deir al Balah in central Gaza, said the UN humanitarian coordinator.
People in Rafah have become so desperate for food that they are holding up aid trucks and eating what they can get their hands on locally, the United Nations said.
Ahmad al-Ghazaly, 26, another displaced Palestinian in Rafah, said he was sheltering in a tent with his parents, both of whom he said had chronic illnesses. He said he had hoped to obtain permits for both of them to leave for Egypt through the Rafah crossing, but that the process had become even more difficult and expensive in recent weeks.
“It has been four months in which we have hardly slept, eaten or showered, and there are constant bombings,” Mr al-Ghazaly said. “I'm sorry that we live in conditions that are barely better than those of animals.”
As Israel's invasion of Rafah looms, neighboring Egypt has grown increasingly concerned that an Israeli operation in the city could cause Palestinian refugees to flow into its territory. Egypt has warned Israel of “serious consequences” if Israeli forces undertake a ground operation in Rafah.
But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant tried to allay those concerns on Friday, saying Israel had “no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt.”
Israel and Egypt have had a peace treaty for decades that is a cornerstone of stability in the Middle East.
In recent weeks, Egypt has fortified its border with Gaza, in what some analysts have seen as a response to fears of an influx of Palestinians. A contractor and an engineer recently told The New York Times that they had been given a government commission to build the Gaza Strip. a five-meter-high (about 16 feet) concrete wall to enclose a stretch of land five kilometers square on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border in Rafah.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the Munich Security Conference that his country strongly opposed any attempt to expel Palestinians into Egyptian territory and had no intention of creating “safe areas” for Palestinian refugees. But if such a situation were to arise, he added, Egyptian authorities would act with “the humanity necessary” and “provide support to innocent civilians.”
Adam Sella contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.