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Despite severe int’l opposition, Netanyahu forges ahead with Rafah operation

In recent days, the rhetoric in foreign capitals has ramped up in opposition to a Rafah military campaign.

By Joshua Marks, JNS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the necessity of conquering Rafah in southern Gaza to the war goal of defeating Hamas, amid intense international pressure against the pending operation.

“Victory is within reach. We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we’re going to do it,” the premier told ABC News in an interview airing on Sunday.

According to Israel, there are four Hamas battalions positioned in the city along the Egyptian border, the population of which has swelled to some 1.5 million, more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, after the Israel Defense Forces directed northern Gazans to a humanitarian zone there when fighting began in October.

The massive civilian population relocated there since the start of the war over four months ago has alarmed Washington and Brussels, with Netanyahu attempting to allay concerns about noncombatants getting caught in the crossfire.

“In this, I agree with the Americans,” Netanyahu told “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “We are going to do it [invade Rafah] while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave.”

Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes as it seen from Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 31, 2024. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Friday that Netanyahu had ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan to evacuate civilians and destroy the battalions, stressing that it is “impossible” to win the war without taking Rafah.

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When pressed on the plan by Karl, Netanyahu suggested areas that the military has cleared north of Rafah as a temporary destination for the civilians, saying that there are “plenty of areas there.”

Netanyahu continued: “We have worked out a detailed plan to do so. And that’s what we have done up to now. We are not cavalier about this. This is part of our war effort, to get civilians out of harm’s way. It’s part of Hamas’s effort to keep them in harm’s way. But we’ve so far succeeded and we are going to succeed again.”

Israeli forces have been engaged in intense battles in the Hamas stronghold of Khan Yunis for weeks and are preparing to head to Rafah next, with just eight miles separating the two southern Gaza cities. Last week, Netanyahu said that 18 out of 24 Hamas battalions had been destroyed so far, underscoring the importance of capturing the Gaza-Egyptian border area to the war effort.

Israeli troops during operational activities in the Gaza Strip on Feb. 10, 2024. (Credit: IDF)

Hamas started the war on Oct. 7 with its bloody invasion of southern Israel, murdering 1,200 mostly civilians, wounding thousands more and kidnapping 253 people, with 136 hostages remaining in Gaza (at least 32 are dead and another 20 may no longer be alive). Israeli forces began their ground offensive in Gaza on Oct. 27 to topple the terrorist group that has ruled the coastal enclave since 2007.

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In recent days, the rhetoric in foreign capitals has ramped up in opposition to a Rafah military campaign. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warning on Saturday that it “would lead to an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe and grave tensions with Egypt.” He then advocated in his X message a return to negotiations for the release of hostages and the cessation of hostilities as “the only way to avert a bloodshed.”

Israel’s Abraham Accords ally, the United Arab Emirates, on Friday warned against the launching of a military operation in Rafah, joining Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

On Thursday, the United States said it would not support the Rafah offensive without a plan to evacuate civilians, which prompted Netanyahu to issue the statement later on Friday emphasizing that there will be a plan in place to ensure civilian safety.

“I could tell you that—absent any full consideration of protecting civilians at that scale in Gaza—military operations right now would be a disaster for those people, and it’s not something that we would support,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House.

For his part, Netanyahu in the ABC News interview pushed back against those completely against an Israeli military operation in Rafah.

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“Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah, are basically saying, ‘Lose the war, keep Hamas there,” he said.

Still, the Israeli leader has reportedly acknowledged that the severe scrutiny being put on the Rafah campaign means that it will be a time-constrained operation.

According to a Friday report by Israel’s Channel 12, Netanyahu told the War Cabinet that the IDF will have one month to complete the Rafah operation, setting a completion date prior to the onset of the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which begins around March 10.

Further to the report, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said at the War Cabinet meeting that the military was ready to proceed with the Rafah operation, but that the government first needed to decide on a plan for the civilian population. Halevi also pressed the government for its plans for the Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile security and buffer zone that runs the entire length of the Egypt-Gaza border and is a critical arms smuggling route for Hamas, with multiple tunnels running underneath it.

For its part, Cairo is working to beef up security at the Gaza border, sending some 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai within the past two weeks, Reuters reported on Friday, citing two Egyptian security officials.

Egypt has taken additional security measures at the border since Oct. 7, the security sources said, including constructing a 20-foot deep concrete barrier topped with barbed wire, building berms and enhancing surveillance at border posts.