Israeli PM vows to 'finish the job' in Gaza as member of his war cabinet threatens Rafah
CBC
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off growing calls to halt the military offensive in Gaza, vowing to "finish the job" as a member of his war cabinet threatened to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israel's government has not publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah, where more than half the enclave's 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Netanyahu's three-member war cabinet, represents an influential voice but not the final word on what might lie ahead.
"If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area," Gantz told a conference of Jewish American leaders. Ramadan, expected to begin on March 10, is historically a tense time in the region.
As ceasefire negotiations struggle after signs of progress in recent weeks, Netanyahu has called demands by Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group "delusional."
The United States, Israel's top ally, says it still hopes to broker a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, and it envisions a wider resolution of the war sparked by the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel.
The U.S. also says it will veto another draft United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire, with its UN ambassador warning against measures that could jeopardize "the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities."
But Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, which the U.S. calls a key element in a broader vision for normalization of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia. His cabinet adopted a declaration on Sunday saying Israel "categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians" and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
The international community overwhelmingly supports an independent Palestinian state as part of a future peace agreement. Netanyahu's government is filled with hard-liners who oppose Palestinian independence.
Netanyahu wants Israel to achieve "total victory" over Hamas. In response to international concern over a Rafah offensive, he has said Palestinian civilians will be evacuated. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.
The suggested timing for the offensive came as the World Health Organization chief said southern Gaza's main medical centre, Nasser Hospital, "is not functional anymore" after Israeli forces raided it in Khan Younis last week.
Israeli strikes across Gaza continued, killing at least 18 people overnight into Sunday, according to medics and witnesses. A strike in Rafah killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another killed five in Khan Younis, the main target of the southern Gaza offensive in recent weeks. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies.
"All those who were martyred were those whom the Jews asked to move to safe places," said Ahmad Abu Rezeq, a bystander after the Rafah strike.
In Gaza City, which suffered widespread destruction early in the war, an airstrike flattened a home, killing seven people, including three women, according to relative Sayed al-Afifi.
Israel's military rarely comments on individual strikes and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas.
Three weeks into the conflict in the Middle East, the joint U.S.-Israel onslaught has killed much of Iran's leadership, knocked out much of its ballistic missile capability, sunk nearly all of its navy and, according to U.S. President Donald Trump, has "militarily WON" the war already.
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