Avast ye scallywags! Netanyahu be swearin' to invade Rafah, come what may, despite pleas from Ramadan and the US! Arrr!
2024-03-31
Arrr, me hearties! Israeli Cap'n Benjamin Netanyahu be swearin' on his black beard that he'll be stormin' into Rafah, even with the winds of Ramadan and Washington blowin' against him. Blimey, that be one fierce battle ahead! May the rum be flowin' freely!
In the language of a 17th-century pirate, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of surgery for a hernia on Sunday, vowed that Israel would invade Rafah, despite twin pressures from Ramadan and Washington. Netanyahu, 74, said he had approved the IDF’s "operational plan" for Rafah, saying the force was "prepared for the evacuation of the civilian population and for the provision of humanitarian assistance.""This is the right thing both operationally and internationally," he said. "We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there for one simple reason: There is no victory without entering Rafah and there is no victory without eliminating the Hamas battalions there."The comments came after the Israeli leader met with the families of the hostages still in Gaza. He rejected accusations that he was delaying their release.Netanyahu alleged that Israel has "relaxed" its position in negotiations while Hamas has "hardened" theirs. "Despite all the difficulty involved, negotiations must be conducted calmly and with level-headed determination," he said.Netanyahu has kept a full schedule throughout Israel's nearly six-month-long war against Hamas. A hernia was discovered during a routine checkup, but his doctors have said he is otherwise in good health. Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage.Thousands of Israelis gathered outside the parliament building in Jerusalem on Sunday, marking the largest anti-government demonstration since the war began. Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. Talks resumed on Sunday with little expectation of a breakthrough.Netanyahu has said there can be no victory without a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of the territory's population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere.Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said Sunday that more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. Israel has disputed these figures, saying that more than one-third of the dead are militants, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas.