Israel and Hamas at war, day 261 | ‘Intense’ fighting in Rafah ‘about to end,’ says Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the “intense” fighting in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army is leading a ground offensive, is “about to end”.

While Israeli bombings again targeted this Palestinian territory devastated by more than eight months of war on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrived in the United States in the midst of an arms dispute between the two allies.

“The intense phase of fighting against Hamas is about to end […] This does not mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israeli channel 14.

“After the end of the intense phase, we will be able to redeploy some forces to the north, and we will do so […] », added the Prime Minister, assuring that “the objective is to recover the hostages and uproot the Hamas regime in Gaza”.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting in Israel, where tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday evening to denounce the conduct of the war and call for the return of hostages still held in Gaza.

The war was sparked by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, during which dozens of people were kidnapped and taken to the neighboring Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a major offensive against the besieged Palestinian territory.

According to witnesses, shells on Sunday targeted the east, west and center of Rafah in southern Gaza, where the Israeli army has been carrying out a ground offensive since May 7. Airstrikes hit Gaza City (north) and tanks bombarded the Nousseirat camp (center).

Fighter jets carried out raids on Saturday against “dozens of terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip, including military structures and infrastructure,” according to the army.

“Crucial” talks in Washington

The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. That day, 251 people were kidnapped. In total, 116 are still held in Gaza, 41 of whom have died according to the army.

Israeli military operations in Gaza have so far killed 37,598 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-led local government’s Health Ministry.

While the relationship between Mr. Netanyahu and the White House is experiencing a new episode of tension, Yoav Gallant left for Washington in order, according to him, “to discuss developments in Gaza and Lebanon.”

Israel’s northern front, along with Lebanon, has been the scene of escalating fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and bellicose rhetoric between the two sides has raised fears of a full-scale war .

On Sunday, the Shiite movement supported by Iran announced that it had targeted two Israeli military sites using explosive drones, seriously injuring a soldier, in response to the death of a leader of an allied Islamist group, in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.

The movement also published a new video showing what it presents as sites in Israel with their coordinates, without identifying them, five days after revealing images of Haifa taken according to it by a drone which flew over this large northern port of Israel.

Referring to relations with Washington, Mr. Gallant assured in a press release that “links with the United States are more important than ever”. “Our talks with American officials are crucial for (the continuation of) the war,” he said.

There is also the dispute over deliveries of American weapons, after Benjamin Netanyahu criticized a delay in their transfer to Israel.

But on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu declared that this “dispute” with Washington will be “resolved in the near future” during a meeting of his government. “ […] In light of what I have heard over the past few days, I hope and believe that this issue will be resolved in the near future. »

“Drive out this government”

Mr Netanyahu, who says Israel is engaged in a “war for its existence”, is under pressure at home.

On Saturday in Tel Aviv, more than 150,000 people according to organizers chanted slogans against the Netanyahu government, demanding early elections and the return of hostages, the largest gathering since the start of the war.

“The only way to achieve change here is to oust this government, to oust the extremists,” said Maya Fischer, a 36-year-old protester. “It is time to end the war, bring back the hostages and save lives, both on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. »

Negotiations for a ceasefire are stalling and Mr. Netanyahu says he will continue the war until the destruction of Hamas, which he considers terrorist along with the United States and the European Union.

In the Palestinian territory, where some 2.4 million people are crowded together, the Israeli offensive has caused a humanitarian disaster with a threat of famine according to the UN.

More than a million people are constantly on the move “in the hope of finding a safe place in the Gaza Strip while “no place there is safe,” according to the World Health Organization.