TEL AVIV:
A day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the war in Gaza was ending, the military bombed targets in the Palestinian territory on Monday and Hamas again called for a permanent end to the fighting.
The prime minister spoke in a televised interview on Sunday as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant traveled to Washington for “critical” talks with Israel’s top ally and arms supplier.
Netanyahu, in his first interview with Israeli media since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants started the bloodiest war in Gaza, told Channel 14 that “the intense phase of fighting against Hamas is about to end.”
He stressed that this “does not mean the war is going to end, but the war in its intense phase is going to end in Rafah,” the southern city near Egypt that is the last part of Gaza to face a full ground invasion.
“The goal is the return of the abductees and the eradication of the Hamas regime in Gaza,” the prime minister said, again rejecting a permanent ceasefire that Hamas has sought during ongoing talks involving the United States and other mediators.
Netanyahu said Israel would be able to “redeploy some forces northward” to the border with Lebanon, where firefights with the Hezbollah movement have escalated, but said this would be “primarily for defensive purposes.”
Read: As tanks push further into Rafah, Israeli forces kill senior Gaza health official
Hamas’ October offensive in southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
The militants also took hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, although the military says 41 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory attack has killed at least 37,626 people, mostly civilians, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
‘We are all dead’ With fears of a full-scale war in Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would return its displaced citizens to communities evacuated on its northern border, through diplomacy or “another way”.
When asked about post-war scenarios for Gaza, he said Israel would maintain “military control for the foreseeable future” but also wanted to establish “a civilian administration, if possible with local Palestinians” and regional support.
Hamas called Netanyahu’s comments “a clear confirmation of the rejection of the recent Security Council (UN) resolution and US President Joe Biden’s proposal” for a hostage release and ceasefire agreement.
The Security Council on June 10 approved a US draft resolution supporting a cease-fire plan in Gaza.
Biden had characterized the plan as an Israeli offer, although some right-wing Israeli politicians critical of Netanyahu’s coalition government opposed it.
Also read: Tokyo event recreates Gaza massacre to highlight plight of Palestinians
On Monday, however, Netanyahu told Parliament: “We are committed to the Israeli proposal approved by President Biden.”
Netanyahu is also under pressure from protesters who regularly take to the streets – by the tens of thousands on Saturday – demanding new elections and a deal to release the hostages.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign said ending the war without bringing all the prisoners home would be a “national failure”.
Along with its insistence on a permanent ceasefire, Hamas says any deal must include Israel’s complete withdrawal to stop “Netanyahu’s efforts to evade, deceive and perpetuate the attack.”
Israeli forces continued to shell targets in central Gaza and Rafah, witnesses said, while gunfire was reported in the Gaza City area.
“We are clearly approaching the point where we can say we have dismantled (Hamas’) Rafah Brigade,” Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told troops in the southern city.
The conduct of the war has led to rising tensions between Biden and Netanyahu, who pledged in an interview: “We will win.”
Read more: Hostage crisis tops agenda as Israeli defense minister meets US officials
US officials have raised doubts about Israel’s goal of completely destroying Hamas. On Wednesday, Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Hamas is an ideology and “we cannot eliminate an ideology.”
Gallant was expected to hold talks on Monday with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken after he said on his departure that “our ties with the United States are more important than ever”.
Netanyahu has accused Washington of slowing or freezing some arms and ammunition deliveries in recent months – a claim that US officials have vehemently denied.
Washington said only one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs was under consideration because of concerns about their use in densely populated areas of Gaza.
A new damage assessment by the United Nations Satellite Center found that about 65 percent of Gaza’s total road network has been damaged or destroyed.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations refugee agency, UNRWA, said the collapse of political order in Gaza has led to “rampant looting and smuggling” that is hampering aid deliveries to a region facing “catastrophic levels of hunger”. .
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