Netanyahu says Israel will press on with Rafah military ops

JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 17 that he would keep up with the military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, where aid agencies say famine is looming, while ceasefire talks were set to resume.

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Mr Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting that Israel would push into Rafah, the last relatively safe place in the tiny, crowded Gaza enclave after more than five months of war, despite international pressure for Israel to avoid civilian casualties.

"We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen," he said, without clarifying if he meant the assault would last for weeks or would begin in weeks.

Mr Netanyahu later said after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Jerusalem that Israel would not leave civilians trapped in Rafah when its forces begin their assault.

Israel's allies have piled pressure on Mr Netanyahu not to attack Rafah, where more than a million displaced people from other parts of the devastated enclave have sought shelter, without a plan to protect civilians.

In Washington, at a St Patrick's Day event at the White House with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, United States President Joe Biden stressed the need to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza and get a ceasefire deal that brings Hamasled hostages home. Mr Biden said a move towards a two-state solution was "the only path for lasting peace and security".

Mr Varadkar said the people of Gaza desperately needed food, medicine and shelter.

"Most especially, they need the bombs to stop. This has to stop on both sides, the hostages brought home and humanitarian relief allowed in," he said.

Mr Varadkar said Israel must reverse its "precipitous" decision to authorise a land incursion into Rafah.