Israel will resist pressure to halt Rafah attack, says Netanyahu

Israel will not give in to international pressure to stall an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah and will continue its bloody offensive against Hamas, said Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There is international pressure and it’s growing, but … we need to stand together against the attempts to stop the war,” the prime minister told a military graduation ceremony in southern Israel, saying that Israel’s forces would operate against Hamas all through the Gaza Strip “including Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold”.

He added: “Whoever tells us not to act in Rafah is telling us to lose the war and that will not happen.”

The uncompromising statement came just hours after news that Hamas had withdrawn its delegation from indirect ceasefire negotiations in Cairo, suggesting that the chances of even a short pause to the war in Gaza before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan are now very slim.

The US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying for weeks to broker an agreement on a six-week ceasefire and the release of 40 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas confirmed on Thursday that its delegation had left Cairo but said talks would resume next week.

“Hamas’s delegation left Cairo this morning for consultation with the leadership of the movement, with negotiations and efforts continuing to stop the aggression, return the displaced and bring in relief aid to our people,” a Hamas statement said.

The start of Ramadan on Sunday or Monday had been seen as an informal deadline by mediators and observers amid optimism early last week that a ceasefire could be agreed.

The holy month often brings unrest linked to access to holy sites in Jerusalem. The conflict in Gaza, now in its sixth month, has already destabilised the wider region.

Underlining the risks of regional conflagration, Israeli artillery opened fire on targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday after a barrage of rockets was fired by Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant Islamist organisation, according to local media reports.

The war in Gaza was triggered in October after Hamas, the militant organisation that has ruled Gaza since 2007, killed 1,200 Israelis, mainly civilians, and abducted another 250 in surprise attacks in southern Israel. About half of the hostages were released during a short-lived ceasefire in November.

Hamas has said it will not release all of the remaining hostages without a full Israeli withdrawal. Palestinian militants are believed to be holding about 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others. A second demand is the release of a large number of prisoners, including senior militant figures serving life sentences, in exchange for the hostages.

Netanyahu has called Hamas’s demands “delusional”. Israel has been under pressure to hold off from any attack against Rafah, which is packed with about 1 million displaced civilians from elsewhere in Gaza and is a key logistics hub for aid agencies.

The UN and humanitarian organisations have expressed deep concern that an Israeli offensive there would aggravate an already “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis. Even the US, Israel’s staunchest ally, has voiced reservations.

Some observers see Netanyahu’s promise to attack Rafah as a threat aimed at forcing concessions from the Islamist militant movement.

Israeli officials blamed the breakdown of the talks on the refusal of Hamas to provide a list of the hostages it is holding in Gaza, saying that this is a precondition for further progress.

Hamas has said it cannot provide the list without a break in the fighting. Israeli officials say this is untrue and the group could get the information with “a few phone calls”.

Egyptian officials said Hamas had agreed to the main terms of such an agreement as a first stage but wanted commitments it would lead to an more permanent ceasefire. They say Israel wants to confine the negotiations to the more limited agreement.

Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages deep inside its vast tunnel network, where rescue operations would be virtually impossible, and using them as human shields for its top leaders, possibly under Rafah.

The town is also a base for four battallions of Hamas militants, about 20% of the organisation’s prewar total and its only remaining undamaged force, Israeli officials have said.

Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesperson, said on Wednesday that Israel still wanted to see a pause for humanitarian purposes that would allow the release of the hostages.

“We will do everything we can to get them out … [But] this war will end ultimately with the total defeat of Hamas or its surrender,” Levy said.

Israel has struggled throughout the conflict to reconcile twin aims of freeing the hostages and “crushing Hamas”.

The huge air, land and sea campaign launched by Israel in Gaza has driven about 80% of the population from their homes and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. It has reduced swathes of the territory to ruins.

Health officials in Gaza said the number of people confirmed killed in Israel’s offensive had passed 30,800, with 83 deaths reported in the past 24 hours. Most of the victims are women and children, the officials said.

Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields in Gaza and says its forces are acting entirely lawfully.

Hamas authorities on Thursday said Israeli bombardments had continued with more than 30 airstrikes across the territory.

In the ruins of Jabalia, northern Gaza, Palestinians gathered on Thursday to receive meals at a donation point.

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“There is no gas to cook our food on. There is no flour, or rice,” said Bassam al-Hou, standing beside large, blackened cooking pots among the dusty rubble.

He said children “are dying and fainting in the streets from hunger. What can we do?”

The UN has described aid access as “unpredictable and insufficient”, blaming military operations, insecurity and extensive restrictions to delivery of essential supplies.

Israeli officials have said there is no limit placed on the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, and that 275 trucks entered the territory on Wednesday.

The timing of any offensive against Rafah will be delicate for Israeli decision-makers. The US wants Israel to provide a clear and convincing plan to show how civilians could be protected during such a complex military operation.

In previous years, Israeli forces and Palestinians have clashed in Jerusalem during Ramadan over access to al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The hilltop on which it is built is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the Jewish temples in antiquity.

Hamas says it launched the attacks in October partly in response to what it sees as Israel’s encroachment on the site and has called for heightened confrontations with Israel during the holy month.

Israeli officials said again on Thursday that access to the site would remain unchanged from previous years and that authorities would “strongly uphold the freedom of worship”.

Analysts have said an attack on Rafah during Ramadan would be a “perfect storm” for more violence.