Netanyahu promises to continue Rafah offensive

The leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, says his soldiers will keep moving toward the city of Rafah in Gaza, even though others are asking them to stop.

French President Emmanuel Macron was telling Mr Netanyahu that the human cost of Israel’s operation in Gaza was too high. He warned him to stop it.

However, Netanyahu has told his army to get ready for a land attack.

Around 14 million Palestinians are living in the city of Rafah, and it has already been attacked.

Mr Netanyahu promised to continue with a strong attack and said that Hamas, the group in charge of Gaza, needs to be removed from the southern city.

“We will keep fighting until we win and we will also take strong action in Rafah after we let the civilians leave the battle areas,” he said.

President Macron called Mr. Netanyahu on Wednesday and said that Israel’s actions in Gaza need to stop.

He said that France is strongly against Israel attacking Rafah. He thinks it would cause a big humanitarian disaster.

The leaders of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are very worried about a military operation in Rafah. They think it would be very bad.

“We ask the Israeli government not to choose this way,” the statement said. It added, “If they expand the military operation, it will be very bad for the Palestinian people. ”

The German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was in Israel, said that the people in Rafah who have nowhere to go cannot just disappear out of nowhere.

Spain and the Republic of Ireland, who are members of the EU, have requested a quick review to see if Israel is following its human rights duties in Gaza, as stated in a trade agreement.

The health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, says that at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed because of Israel’s attack.

Israel decided to do something after gunmen led by Hamas killed at least 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in a sudden attack on its land on 7 October.

During the start of the war, Israel told Palestinians to go to Rafah for safety while the Israeli military fought in the northern cities.

Rafah is at the bottom of Gaza and has a crossing into Egypt where humanitarian help can go into the area.

Now, Israel wants people to move to a safe area called a “humanitarian zone” along the coast called al-Mawasi. This area is mainly used for farming.

One of the people who had to leave their home in Rafah was Ahlam Abu Assi. She told the news agency AFP that she would rather stay in Rafah, even if it meant she might die there, than go back to the terrible conditions her relatives in Gaza City had to endure.

“My son and his kids don’t have any food to eat. ” “They make a little bit of rice and keep it for tomorrow,” she said.

Another city called Khan Younis has been the main area where Israel has been concentrating its military operations in the southern part of Gaza.

Many Palestinians who had to leave their homes went to the Nasser hospital for safety. Now they are being told to leave there too.

Mr Netanyahu said he will continue despite the peace talks involving officials from the US, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar not reaching a conclusion.

The leader of Israel said that Hamas did not offer anything new for a hostage deal, and Israel will not agree to the militant group’s unreasonable requests.

It said that if Hamas changes its positions, the negotiations can make progress.