Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that irrespective of the outcome of the ceasefire talks, the army will continue with the operation in Rafah.
“It has to be done. Because total victory is our goal, and total victory is within reach,” Netanyahu said in an interview to CBS.
The Israeli leader however mentioned that if the ceasefire deal was reached, the operation may be “delayed somewhat.”
US, Israel’s closest ally, has warned Tel Aviv of not carrying out the operation in Rafah as it has the potential of causing mass civilian casualties. Once the Rafah operation was done, Netanyahu insisted that his country would be weeks away from victory.
The timing of the operation has not yet been decided, but Netanyahu and his officials have not ruled out the possibility of having it during the holy month of Ramzan.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi said that such a move, would have “catastrophic” consequences for the entire region,” Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.
During the interview, Netanyahu took a dig at its close ally the US. He said that the Israeli military had defied warnings from the “best of friends” at the outset of the war.
“They said you cannot fight, you can’t enter Gaza City, you can’t go into the tunnels, it will be a terrible bloodbath. All of that turned out to be not true,” he added.
The US has however asked the Israeli government to exercise caution. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan in an interview to NBC has said that Washington has been clear it did not “believe that a major military operation, should proceed in Rafah unless there is a clear and executable plan to protect civilians, to get them to safety and to feed, clothe and house them — and we have not seen a plan like that.”
According to Palestinian officials over 30,000 people have died in Israel’s offensive against Hamas. This came after 1,200 people died during an attack by Hamas in Southern Israel on October 7.
