Israeli-Israel War on the Gaza Strip: Netanyahu’s Letter to the Prime Minister Sunak of the UK and the Status of Hamas-Israel Interaction
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would invade “with or without a deal” to liberate the remaining hostages in Gaza.
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.
Mr. Netanyahu made it clear that Israel would maintain its right to fight as Hamas and right-wing politicians in Israel threatened to withdraw from the coalition if the operation into Rafah is delayed.
I don’t think we can stop the war before achieving all of its goals. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal — in order to achieve the total victory,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by his office.
Meanwhile, negotiations mediated by Egypt over a potential cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas have raised hopes about the release of some or all of the remaining hostages in exchange for a sequence of cease-fires and the release of Palestinian detainees held by Israel. (On Oct. 7, militants led by Hamas killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped around 240 others, more than 100 of whom were released during a seven-day ceasefire in November.)
On Tuesday, the scale of the rescue was uncertain, despite the fact that some families in Rafah had already moved to areas of Gaza that had been attacked by Israeli forces. More than one million Gazans were still in the city as of last week in makeshift tents, many of them having been displaced from other parts of the territory.
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.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain spoke to Mr. Netanyahu on Tuesday, his office said in a statement. The British leader continued to push for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in and hostages out, and said that Britain is focused on de-escalation, it said.
For weeks, cease-fire talks had been at a standstill. The Israeli officials said that they had halved the number of hostages they wanted Hamas to release during the first phase of the truce.
A senior Hamas official speaking on condition of anonymity said a Hamas delegation met with officials in Egypt on Monday.
The Israeli Defense Mission in the Light of a “Brazil Attack” on the September 7, 2005 Gaza, Decay of the Host Family
The United Nations Secretary-General, along with aid groups and other leaders, has urged Israel to scale back its plans or not launch the offensive at all. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive since Oct. 7, health officials in Gaza say.
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.
“If a military attack on Rafah went ahead it would be an unbearable step and many more people would die,” said the UN Secretary-General. “I appeal for all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to prevent it.”
On the social media site X, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet said on Sunday that agreeing to a deal would be “humiliating surrender” and an “existential threat” to Israel.
Fellow hardliner Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, made a similar threat Tuesday. I told the prime minister that if God forbid we stop the war, he would make a reckless deal. “I think the prime minister is aware of what could happen if these things don’t happen.”
If right-wing parties withdraw their support for Netanyahu, the prime minister will be forced to form a new coalition in order to stay in power. In the past, opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered to serve as a political ‘lifeline’ for Netanyahu in order to get a deal to free hostages.
The families of the hostages in Gaza are probably the most powerful voices in Israel. According to the Israeli government 133 people are still captive and at least one is believed to be dead.
“If our government and Hamas cannot come to a deal now, it’s many, many, many steps backward. 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 the family was told that Aviva was out of prison, they thought they’d been waiting a long time. Instead, negotiations fell apart and Israel resumed its military campaign. The man has been a hostage for more than 200 days.
Israeli Interior Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the International Criminal Court System in the Light of Hamas-Galaxy Mass-Sacrificial Charges
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 would suggest that Smotrich take off his Jewish garb and stop saying he’s Jewish, because I was raised differently than that,” said Miran, who has a son Omri.
Separately, in an English-language video statement released Tuesday, Netanyahu decried reports that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials on charges related to the war on Hamas.
“This would be an outrage of historic proportions, comparable to how the international criminal court system was created after World War II and the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said.
To issue an arrest warrant for someone would be to pour jet fuel on the fires that are currently raging on the campuses of America and across capitals around the world.