The Israeli people are turning on Netanyahu

Israel’s prime minister is not a man who often appears rattled.

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Benjamin Netanyahu has weathered myriad storms during his years in power, with his succession of coalition governments teetering on the brink many times.

Yesterday, he came out fighting once again, appearing at short notice before the international media to defend his plan to expand military operations in Gaza to Gaza City and blaming Hamas for each and every charge that has been laid at Israel’s door. Israel’s goal, he said, was not to occupy Gaza, but to free Gaza. Israel did not want to prolong the war, but to end it.

Confident though Mr Netanyahu may have seemed, the very fact of his appearance on a Sunday afternoon and the point-by-point rebuttals he gave of practically every accusation levelled against Israel, from blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, to reports of starving children and shooting on people trying to reach food distribution points, was in itself an acknowledgement that the national and international outcry prompted by his new plan had hit home.

He reserved some of his most excoriating comments for those, such as Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, who have undertaken to recognise a Palestinian state, accusing them of falling for a longstanding