Buildings destroyed in Israeli bombardments, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on April 30.-/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to go ahead with a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, whatever the response by Hamas to the latest proposals for a halt to the fighting and a return of Israeli hostages.
Expectations that a ceasefire agreement could be in sight have grown in recent days following a renewed push led by Egypt to revive stalled negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Gaza’s ruling Palestinian Islamist group.
However Netanyahu said that with or without a deal, Israel intended to pursue the operation to destroy the remaining Hamas combat formations in Rafah, where more than 1 million Gaza Palestinians displaced from their homes amid Israeli military operations elsewhere since October have been seeking shelter.
“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a statement. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.”
Earlier, a person close to Netanyahu said Israel has been waiting for Hamas to respond to the latest ceasefire proposals tabled by Egypt, one of several foreign mediators, before sending a team to Cairo to continue talks.
With U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to arrive in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening following a visit to Riyadh to help nurture a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, pressure has been building for an agreement to stop the war that has devastated Gaza as it nears the end of its seventh month.
But so far there has been little sign of agreement on the most fundamental difference between the two sides – the Hamas demand that any deal must ensure a withdrawal of troops and a permanent end to the Israeli operation in Gaza.
“We can’t tell our people the occupation will stay or the fight will resume after Israel regains its prisoners,” said a Palestinian official from a group allied with Hamas. “Our people want this aggression to end.”
For Netanyahu, any move is likely to be affected by divisions in his coalition cabinet between ministers pressing to bring home at least some of the 133 Israeli hostages left in Gaza, and hardliners insisting on the long-promised assault on remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.
But Israeli officials have said the operation could be deferred if Hamas accepts the deal on offer – which includes no definitive ceasefire but the return of 33 vulnerable hostages – women, children and those in frail health – in exchange for a much larger number of Palestinian prisoners and a limited pause in the fighting.
“As far as Israel is concerned, this is the last chance to hold off a Rafah sweep. The IDF has already started mobilizing troops for that operation,” said a second Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.
The Israeli military said two divisions which left Gaza last week were refitting and repairing equipment and holding training and operational assessment exercises in preparation for continued operations in the enclave.
“The commanders of the divisions have completed the approval of plans for upcoming missions and are now continuing to enhance readiness in all areas and in training,” the military said.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini gave an update on April 30 on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, speaking of an 'extraordinary deep anxiety' in Gaza over a potential Israeli military offensive.
The Associated Press
Netanyahu’s position has been complicated by talk that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be preparing arrest warrants for himself and other senior Israeli leaders on charges related to the conduct of the war.
The ICC has so far said nothing to confirm the speculation, which prompted Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to warn Israeli embassies abroad to bolster their security.
But it underlined fears in Israel of growing isolation over the fighting in Gaza, which has caused mounting international alarm at the scale of destruction, the risk of famine and the prospect of a slide into a wider regional conflict.
Netanyahu said that if the ICC issues arrest warrants for government officials on charges related to the conduct of Israel’s war against Hamas it would be a scandal on a historic scale.
Israeli officials have expressed concern in recent days that the ICC is preparing warrants for senior government officials, in what would be the most serious international legal action taken against Israel since the Gaza war erupted in October.
The ICC – which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide – is investigating Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and Israel’s devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month.
“The possibility that they will issue arrest warrants for war crimes against IDF (Israel Defence Force) commanders and state leaders, this possibility is a scandal on a historic scale,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Israel says Hamas’ attack killed about 1,200 people; Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 34,500 Gazans have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and the territory widely devastated.
United Nations bodies and human-rights groups have accused Israel of violating international humanitarian law during its military operation in Gaza, something it denies.
Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.
In October ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed by Islamist Hamas fighters in Israel and by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said that any ICC arrest warrants would not affect Israel’s actions and, he said, would be the first time that a democratic country was accused by the court of war crimes.
“I want to make one thing clear: no decision, neither in The Hague nor anywhere else, will harm our determination to achieve all the goals of the war – the release of all our hostages, a complete victory over Hamas and a promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” he said.
Prosecutors from the International Criminal Court have interviewed staff from Gaza’s two biggest hospitals, sources told Reuters, the first confirmation that ICC investigators were speaking to medics about possible crimes in Gaza.
One of the sources said that events surrounding the hospitals could become part of the investigation by the ICC.