‘Whatever happens, whatever it takes’: Netanyahu to push ahead with Rafah ground offensive

for more I’m joined in the studio by our International Affairs editor Philip turl Phillip good to see you are we a step closer to that fullscale ground invasion of Rafa well I think the answer to that question is that no one really knows right now exactly what Israel is planning to do in the short term but I think there’s no doubt in the fact and certainly in the mind of Benjamin Netanyahu that whatever happens and whatever it takes he’s going to push ahead with that ground offensive and this is all the the premises to that when you see people being evacuated Israel’s already said that 300,000 people have been evacuated from that zone uh more evacuations being uh to forced on people through as we were just hearing in that report from shiry sborn through telephone messages through uh people being actually rung up and told to move so another 480,000 people the problem here is we don’t really know and no one really knows where they’re going to go uh they’re being told to go to the AL maasi uh humanitarian area but that’s already absolutely choca block full with people and they don’t have the capacity to take in any extra uh refugees uh due to the fact that they don’t have the supplies there to be able to help there no immunities at all so people living in extremely scaled conditions coupled with that is the threat that if this ground offensive does take place we’ve seen this happening over the last few days with the military activity uh taking place around Rafa is that the uh supply of humanitarian Aid will also dry up into the Gaza Strip where uh thousands if not over a million people are suffering from uh a lack of food in fact over a million according to the World Health Organization so uh it’s very difficult to see exactly where this is going when this ground offensive is going to begin but what the Israelis are saying in in particular Benjamin Netanyahu is whatever it takes and whatever the International Community says uh this ground offensive is going to take ahead take place at at some point and as these operations from Israel are expanding in Rafa the armed wing of Hamas posted a new video of a hostage yeah this is very interesting because this is coming at a time when there is growing International pressure on the shoulders of the Israeli Prime Minister not only domestically to get the hostages released but also from the International Community not only concerning the hostages but we’ve heard it Days running from the US president and from uh the uh allies of Israel that any ground offensive is going to cause misery for millions of people in the Gaza Strip and it could also lead to greater numbers of casualties so the fact that there’s another video of a hostage speaking basically saying time is running out your government is lying uh he’s been named as nadav Powell who was kidnapped on the 7th of October uh that’s stacking more pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister to get the hostages liberated to come up with some kind of deal uh with Hamas on top of that to make things even worse for the Israeli Prime Minister is the fact that there are conflicting reports this afternoon that n poell is in fact now dead having died from his wounds after an Israeli air strike this hasn’t been independent confirmed but it’s according to Hamas and quoted by the Reuters news agency this afternoon so this is all part of the psychological effort of War to stack the pressure on uh the shoulders of the person that you want to bring to the negotiating table to try to force their hand if you like to do that and meanwhile Philip the US also putting more pressure on Israel they issued a pretty stunning criticism of Israel’s use of American weapons in Gaza saying that it was reasonable to assess that Israel has used those weapons in a way that goes against international law well this is also quite interesting Ellison because there’s been pressure we’ve heard Joe Biden saying over the past few days I’m going to stop weapon shipments to Israel there has been uh a blockage of some heavy uh weapons bunker basting bombs uh there’s been a blockage of about 1,800 of those going to Israel but remember that Israel and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding back in 2016 for a 10-year period between 2018 and 2012 28 concerning the shipment of us arms to Israel now for the moment the US hasn’t actually said it’s going to interrupt that which means that there are $ 38 billion worth of Munitions heading towards Israel that hasn’t been interrupted over that 10-year period including Munitions and uh tank rounds which can be used by the Israeli authorities so uh there is pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Ben Menan yahu but that doesn’t seem to be making any dent on him because he knows that he’s got his right wing far right wing threatening to withdraw their support from his government which would collapse afterwards if he doesn’t push ahead with this offensive in Rafa and I think he thinks it’s safer probably to play the United States on this game and to risk my own political future within Israel itself I’m going to push on as far as I possibly can with this offensive in rougher uh and hopefully uh get it over with

The Israeli military on Saturday called on people living in the border city of Rafah in Gaza to evacuate as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the densely populated area. “I think there’s no doubt in the fact and certainly in the mind of Binyamin Netanyahu, whatever happens and whatever it takes, he’s going to push ahead with that ground offensive,” FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Editor Philip Turle said. “The problem here is, we don’t really know, and no one really knows where they’re going to go,” Turle added.
#Israel #Netanyahu #Rafah

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32 comments

  2. Anthony Blinken said that Israel made an extraordinary generous ceasefire offer and the only thing in the way of one is Hamas. Hamas rejects it anyhow. So what do the U.S. do. They put more pressure on Israel, not Hamas. And so it goes.

  4. They are backed by the Western countries either weapons which they all stocked up or UN, ICC, protests etc. They are all covered

  6. It's sad to always attribute the incursion to sorts of delay by Benjamin to keep staying in office when, every decision comes from the war cabinet.

  11. Journalists and some media outlets only broadcast the suffering of the Palestinians, condemn Israel and it is as if the Hamas leaders did not exist and were not responsible. Protecting them gives them the fuel to continue

  20. We, the US, do not owe Israel anything. We are certainly not obligated to share responsibility for mass civilian casualties and millions starving. Whatever Israel does on its own is between Israel and the world.

  22. Nonsense, what was the reason for Oct 7th attack on Israelis??? IDF go on and clear the terrorists. And Americans are never true Allies, never ever come to Uganda

  24. No whatever happens: If Hamas surrenders and free the hostages, it will all be over.
    Hamas started it and it can end it.

  32. According to Jewish ideology, ethnic cleansing against Palestinians is called evacuation. Maybe then what happened to the Jews during the Second World War will also be called the evacuation of the Jews, and those who did not have time to evacuate were simply unlucky

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