Netanyahu: Israel will enter Rafah regardless of a cease-fire deal with Hamas | DW News

Netanyahu: Israel will enter Rafah regardless of a cease-fire deal with Hamas | DW News

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu is vowing that his country’s
Army will enter the southern Gaza City
of Rafa regardless of whether a
ceasefire deal is reached with Hamas
speaking at a meeting with the families
of Israeli hostages Netanyahu said
Israel would not end the war until all
of its goals had been achieved including
eliminating Hamas battalions in Rafa
many had hoped a ceasefire agreement
would avert a rougher ground incursion
which Israel ‘s allies including the
United States and Germany have warned
against let’s get more from DW’s
correspondent uh in Jerusalem Tanya ker
Tanya is Benjamin netanyahu’s stance on
Rafa jeopardizing the possibility of
reaching any kind of
deal well that’s also being discussed uh
in Israel between those who are
supporting such a deal that is uh
currently uh being worked on through
mediators Qatar and Egypt uh in Cairo
and where a response by Hamas is
actually uh uh waited for at the moment
uh so and those of course who are
opposing uh to end the war and those who
uh have said that Israel should not be
guided by International pressure and
among them are also members of his own
uh cabinet some of the far-right members
of his cabinet but prime minister
Benjamin netan has said it time and time
again himself that uh he he thinks that
the military needs to go into Rafa uh to
uh destroy Hamas as he puts it and also
to achieve a full victory in this war
something that many Israelis are not
actually believing in anymore at this
point in time and his critics have said
he should not have said that now uh as a
public statement is it is a crucial time
while those mediators are uh trying uh
to get such a deal uh uh together and of
course it’s also devastating for uh the
families uh and relatives of those
hostages that remain uh in Gaza and of
course we should not forget it just
comes a couple of hours before um uh US
Secretary of State Anthony blinkin is
expected to arrive in Israel and his
priorities also to push for such a deal
uh as you say uh blink will be in Israel
or is expected to to visit Israel soon
does the US have enough leverage to
pressure Israel not to attack Rafa what
influence can he
bring well I mean his main goal is as he
had said is to bring uh both sides uh
first and foremost together to engage uh
indirectly obviously and to come uh to a
deal uh and uh you know to get to at
least the temporary uh ceasefire this is
actually to prevent such an operation or
ground operation uh in Rafa and the Us
and other countries you said it have
made it very clear that they oppose such
a uh a ground operation in Rafa where
over 1 million Palestinians that have
been displaced multiple times are uh
seeking uh some sort of shelter they
said there needs to be at least a
credible plan to bring those people to
some sort of safety there’s also the
question of Aid because most of the aid
is still going in through the Rafa
Crossing this is another very important
point on uh blinken’s agenda that more
humanitarian aid needs to go uh into
Gaza it’s still not enough um although
Israeli officials saying that Aid has
been increased but Aid organizations say
it’s not enough and also we will see him
certainly talking more about on a
regional uh level he just came from
Saudi Arabia uh to to prevent any
further escalation also on a regional
level DW’s Jerusalem correspondent Tanya
ker Tanya thank
you many had hoped agreement on a
ceasefire could avert a rougher ground
incursion which Israel’s allies
including the United States and Germany
have warned against the United Nations
relief Agency for Palestinians or anra
warns that while more Aid has been
getting through any rougher military
operation could severely disrupt vital
distribution
efforts the crossing at Rafa a vital
Lifeline for gazin that could soon be
under
threat famine is looming for more than a
million people here the UN estimates
billions of dollars in Aid are necessary
in the coming months Israel says Aid is
flowing over the last few weeks the
amount of humanitarian Aid going into
Gaza has significantly increased in the
coming days the amount of Aid going into
Gaza will continue to scale up even more
food water medical supplies shelter
equipment and other Aid more of it is
going into Gaza than ever before so far
Aid has entered Gaza via land and air
often using the Egyptian Port of Elish
freight trucks then head for the Rafa
Crossing Israel has announced it’s
temporarily opening other Crossings at
Ares and the so-called G 96 which allow
Aid into Northern Gaza without a
dangerous drive through the conflict
Zone the Us and other countries have
been airdropping aid for months
now and the US is building a floating
Aid Pier off of gaza’s Mediterranean
Coast that will allow ships to deliver
Aid directly at a cost of more than $300
million but the United Nations world
food program says that getting food to
people who need it is complex effect
especially given ongoing air strikes and
shelling we don’t have enough trucks so
under the current circumstances where we
don’t have um safety where we don’t have
enough trucks coming into Gaza to
deliver where we have one checkpoint for
now going into the north with only a few
trucks going in we’re not operating at
the scale that we would like the efforts
that are already underway would be
severely disrupted if Israel does mount
a full-scale ground offensive on Raa
making deliveries even more dangerous
for Aid workers and Gins
alike and I’m joined Now by Sam Rose
from anra that’s the UN relief and works
Agency for Palestine refugees welcome to
DW thanks for your time uh Israel’s
prime minister Netanyahu Benyamin
Netanyahu is saying the planned
offensive on Rafa will happen no matter
what can I ask for your reaction to that
statement yes thanks for having me on I
mean we’re hearing the news live as as
as you are this this breaking news and
obviously it’s extremely extremely
concerning for for us for the
humanitarian Community but most
importantly for the for the people of
Gaza and the people of Rafa in
particular there has been a palpable
sense of anxiety here over the past few
uh few days as this deadline has got
closer and closer and if indeed these
reports are confirmed uh we are
extremely concerned about what the
immediate and and longer term future
holes for people here Sam you’re in Rua
can you give us a sense of what it is
like there the conditions you spoke
about the sense of uh anxiety how are
people coping with now the shadow of
this planned offensive hanging over
them the conditions are desperate the
conditions have been desperate here for
for for several months we have one and a
half million people living in a tiny
Slither of land here most of them have
have lost every things many of them are
living in tents or in knitted together
you know tents made of bags of flour
they they have almost nothing we’re
living through extremely poor sanitation
conditions extremely poor health
conditions there are regular
bombardments that are that that pepper
the day that pepper the night a constant
sound of drone drone drone Israeli
drones overhead that just torment people
who have already been through so much
and and on top of this that they’re
dealing with the most uncertain future
we already know the situation is
catastrophic here if the incursion and
if the operation goes ahead it will be
far far worse we’re looking at wide
scale destruction and really a multitude
of of casualties that’s on the on the
ground here for people inside Rapa then
we have major questions about where they
will go space for them to to to set up
shelter and how we as the humanitarian
Community will be able to assist and
protect him on that point Israel is
saying that it’s preparing to evacuate
Palestinians from Rafa can you talk to
us about the logistics of that I mean
would it even be
possible we’ve seen what’s happened in
in Northern Gaza we saw what had
happened in in canun several weeks
several several months ago now when it
comes to to northern northern Gaza the
situation here is is completely
different both in terms of the scale uh
the order of magnitude we’re looking at
almost 1.5 million people who are living
here and also the
destination uh you know they’re being if
indeed this do does come to pass they’ll
be pushed into areas that have already
been subject to Savage bombardment over
the past several months and and and the
other important factor is that that Aid
has been getting into Gaza at far far
far lower volumes than we would love but
Rafa Kum Shalom the Border area here has
been the lifeline for that trickle of
Aid we know that it isn’t enough it’s
led to the worst uh deterioration in
food security conditions anywhere we’ve
seen in in the world in the recent past
and and what that means in terms of
people going to an area where we cannot
secure Aid we cannot provide for that it
it it it doesn’t bear thinking about
what the consequences of something like
that will be and it’s very very hard if
not impossible to see how it can be done
safely without major casualties without
major loss of life s the US is putting
pressure on Israel to increase Aid to
Gaza but again what happens to Aid
deliveries if there is this EV offensive
uh we’re talking
about absolutely I mean as we know Rafa
K Shalom has been the main entry point
for Aid new and complimentary Terminals
and entry points are being set up but
they are yet to be to be open this is in
eras at the North and and and and the
pier and the the the jetty off the sea
they are are yet to be fully functioning
we have yet to see DET to receive
details of how they will function in
terms of how the aid will get from the
ships safely into the hands of the
organizations that need to distribute it
around Gaza and we’re not we’re also not
seeing the quantities and the volume of
Aid that are needed to to to meet the
the the needs of all the people who will
be fleeing who will be on the run if
this indeed happens and and and let’s
not forget it’s not just about trucks of
Aid coming in it’s about F fuel it’s
about water it’s about electricity it’s
about the basics of life that go beyond
what you can put on a truck Sam Rose
from anra in Rafa Sam thank you so much
uh for your
time thank you and for more we can go
straight to Cairo now to speak to
journalist Karim El goari uh kareim is
there a realistic chance of a deal
soon well there was a optimistic
atmosphere yesterday um with Hamas
official saying there’s no major issues
in the way also the Egyptian negotiators
saying that there are important Israeli
concessions now the Hamas delegation
left Cairo in order to negotiate this
new Israeli proposal among them eles and
Israeli delegation that was originally
planned to come to Cairo today deferred
this visit until there is a written
answer from Hamas when it comes to
substance through the media we don’t
have anything official it seems that the
Israeli proposal agrees that if Hamas
releases 33 uh hostages there will be a
release of hundreds of Palestinians in
Palestinian prisons and uh 40-day truth
but they talk about several phases the
is when they stick Point comes in the
second phase Hamas wants to have
guarantees for a permanent ceasefire and
that the Israeli Army withdrawals from
the Gaza Strip now it seems like in the
Israeli proposal there’s talk about
sustained calm uh whatever this means
but the problem is that the demands of
Hamas of uh permanent ceasefire and of
the withdrawal of the Israeli Army from
the Gaza Strip of course this all
directly contradicts with the Israeli
War objective of destroying ham
that is the reason why this all is so
difficult you’ve made very clear there
how many details how many nuances are
involved in these negotiations yet
diplomats are being fairly open about
their optimism where is this sudden
momentum coming
from I think it’s pressure on all sides
pressure on Hamas of course they want to
avoid under any circumstances and
Israeli military offensive to Raa and
Israeli Prime Minister Nan is Under
Pressure also from his ally the US to
agree to some kind of ceasefire not at
least because US President Joe Biden
himself is under pressure by the
protests in the universities in the US
and all this leads to that there is some
movement here in this negotiations okay
um US Secretary of State Anthony blinkin
is now in Jordan he’s expected to visit
Israel next will he be able to push for
more aid for
Gaza well he said says there is more Aid
coming in in the last days but he says
it’s by far not enough and he says
something like we need to improve the de
conflicting for humanitarian workers uh
I I I love American semantics so I think
to translate it he says basically we
need to make sure that the Israeli Army
doesn’t kill humanitarian workers who
hand out the aid and to make sure that
the aid gets to all the people I talked
to an member of an NGO here in kir
international NGO who is working on the
issue to get Aid in um she’s saying that
to get the aid in that improved in the
last uh week but the problem is that
lots of this Aid doesn’t reach the
northern Gaza Strip accessibility is
still a big problem and uh she is saying
the only thing that will solve this
problem at the end is going to be a
ceasefire that will be the ultimate
relief for the humanitarian situation in
the Gaza State Karim thank you so much
that’s kareim El goari in Kiro okay

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing that his country’s army will enter the southern Gaza city of Rafah – regardless of whether a cease-fire deal is reached with Hamas.

Speaking at a meeting with the families of Israeli hostages, Netanayhu said Israel would not end the war until all of its goals had been achieved – including eliminating Hamas battalions in Rafah. Many had hoped a cease-fire agreement would avert a Rafah ground incursion – which Israel’s allies, including the United States and Germany, have warned against.

For more on this, we talk to DW Correspondent Tania Krämer in Jerusalem.
We also speak with Sam Rose from UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
And we talk to journalist Karim El-Gawhary, who joins us from Cairo.

00:00 Intro
00:37 Talk with Tania Krämer
04:08 Report on aid deliveries in Rafah
06:36 Interview with Sam Rose
11:57 Interview with Karim El-Gawhary

#Rafah #Ceasefire #Israel

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