JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the Israeli military’s heavy fighting against Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is nearly over.
Netanyahu, in his first interview with an Israeli network since the war with Hamas broke out on October 7, said troops would soon be deployed to the northern border with Lebanon but for “defensive purposes.”
“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s pro-Netanyahu Channel 14.
“It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” he said.
“After the end of the intense phase, we will be able to redeploy some forces to the north, and we will do that. Primarily for defensive purposes but also to bring the (displaced) residents back home,” Netanyahu said.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been displaced from northern Israel which has seen near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanese Hezbollah militants since the war in Gaza began.
Netanyahu said he would not agree to any deal that stipulates an end to the war in Gaza, indicating that he was open to a “partial” deal that would facilitate the return of some hostages still held there, if not all.
“The goal is to return the kidnapped and uproot the Hamas regime in Gaza,” he said.
United States officials have raised doubts over Israel’s goal of completely destroying Hamas, and on Wednesday Israel’s top army spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Hamas cannot be eliminated.
“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes,” Hagari said.
He said Hamas is an ideology and “we cannot eliminate an ideology.”
When asked about the post-war situation in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel will have a role to play in the near term.
“It’s clear military control in the foreseeable future will be ours,” he said, before giving his most-detailed comments yet on the post-war situation.
Earlier this month two war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot left the government after Netanyahu failed to deliver a post-war plan for Gaza as demanded by Gantz.
The United States has also pointed to the need for a post-war plan that would help ensure Israel’s long-term security.
“We also want to create a civilian administration, if possible with local Palestinians, and maybe with external backing from countries in the region, to manage humanitarian supply and later on civilian affairs in the Strip,” the prime minister said.
“At the end of it, there’s two things that need to happen: we need ongoing demilitarization by the IDF (army) and the establishment of a civilian administration.”
The Gaza Strip has been gripped by more than eight months of war since Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.
Israel’s military offensive on Gaza has since killed at least 37,598 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have consistently rallied against Netanyahu and his government, demanding early elections and a deal to return hostages.
But Netanyahu said that if his government falls, “a left-wing government will be established here, which will do something immediately: establish a Palestinian state that is a Palestinian terrorist state that will endanger our existence.”
Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’
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Israel PM says ‘intense’ fighting with Hamas in Rafah ‘about to end’
- “The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s pro-Netanyahu Channel 14
UN says Lebanon peacekeepers ‘remain in all positions’ despite Israel request
- ‘Peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly’
“On September 30, the IDF (Israeli military) notified UNIFIL of their intention to undertake limited ground incursions into Lebanon. They also requested we relocate from some of our positions,” the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement, adding that “peacekeepers remain in all positions and the UN flag continues to fly.”
More than 200 Chinese citizens evacuated from Lebanon, foreign ministry says
- The move comes after conflict in the Middle East has intensified following Iran’s missile strike on Israel
- A South Korean military transport aircraft also flies out 97 nationals out of Lebanon
BEIJING: More than 200 Chinese citizens have been safely evacuated from Lebanon, China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
“These people, who have been evacuated in two batches, include three Hong Kong residents and one Taiwan compatriot,” the ministry said in a statement in response to a Reuters query on the situation.
“The Chinese Embassy in Lebanon remains firm in Lebanon and continues to assist Chinese citizens remaining there in taking security measures,” it added.
The move comes after conflict in the Middle East has intensified following Iran’s missile strike on Israel on Tuesday and Israel’s incursion into Lebanon.
On Wednesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency said more than 200 Chinese citizens had been safely evacuated from Lebanon by the government.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said three Taiwanese in Lebanon were expected to return to the island this month and that two others had opted to stay for family reasons.
The ministry added that another Taiwanese decided late last month to take a boat out of the country arranged by China, and that the de facto Taiwan embassy in Jordan was aware of that process. It did not elaborate.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and considers the island’s people to be Chinese citizens, a position the government in Taipei strongly objects to.
A South Korean military transport aircraft returned 97 citizens and family members from Lebanon on Saturday as Middle East tensions rise, the foreign ministry said.
A KC-330 aircraft left Beirut on Friday afternoon with the evacuees, who include Lebanese family members, and arrived at a military airfield on the south of Seoul, the ministry said.
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday ordered military aircraft to be deployed to evacuate South Korean citizens from parts of the Middle East as conflict escalates between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as the armed group’s backer, Iran.
South Korea’s defense ministry said it flew a C130J transport plane as backup, which is capable of operating on shorter runways and under fire, as a precaution, and sent 39 military personnel, including mechanics and diplomats.
The government will take further actions to ensure the safety of its citizens, the foreign ministry said without elaborating.
South Korean diplomats stationed in Lebanon remained in the country, Yonhap news agency reported.
Hospital in southern Lebanon says it was shelled after being warned to evacuate
BEIRUT — A hospital in southern Lebanon said in a statement that it had been shelled by Israeli forces Friday after being warned to evacuate.
The statement from Salah Ghandour Hospital in the town of Bint Jbeil said the shelling “resulted in nine members of the medical and nursing staff being injured, most of them seriously,” while most of the medical staff were evacuated.
A day earlier, the World Health Organization says 28 health workers in Lebanon had been killed in the past 24 hours.
Earlier on Friday, the Israel military in a statement alleged that rescue vehicles were being used by Hezbollah to transport militants and weapons.
American killed in Lebanon was a US citizen, State Department says
- State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller earlier this week said it was Washington’s understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen. On Friday, the department said that he was a US citizen
WASHINGTON: An American killed in Lebanon this week was a US citizen, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday, adding that Washington was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.
Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the US congresswoman representing his district.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller earlier this week said it was Washington’s understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen. On Friday, the department said that he was a US citizen.
“We are aware and alarmed of reports of the death of Kamel Jawad, who we have confirmed is a US citizen,” the spokesperson said.
“As we have noted repeatedly, it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Any loss of civilian life is a tragedy.”
Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, who have been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began a year ago.
Its recent military campaign in Lebanon has killed hundreds and wounded thousands, according to the Lebanese government, which has not said how many of the casualties were civilians versus Hezbollah members. The Israeli bombardment has also driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.
The governor of Michigan has urged the US government to do more to rescue Americans stuck in Lebanon, many of them from Michigan, during Israel’s military offensive in the country.
Tunisians protest against President Saied two days before presidential vote
- The opposition’s anger flared after presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was handed down three prison sentences totalling 14 years
TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Friday, escalating protests against President Kais Saied, two days before what they say is an unfair presidential vote in which Saied has removed most other candidates to remain in power.
Protesters, who held up banners reading “Farce elections” and “Freedoms, not a lifelong presidency,” marched to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Tunis and a focus point in 2011 protests that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Political tensions in the North African country have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three other prominent candidates, and an independent court has been stripped of authority to adjudicate on election disputes by the parliament.
The opposition’s anger flared after presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was handed down three prison sentences totalling 14 years.
He has been in jail since he was arrested a month ago on charges of forging electoral documents.
Saied now faces just two rival candidates, Zammel and Zouhair Maghzaoui, who was a former Saied ally and then turned critic.
Protesters chanted slogans against Saied: “The people want the fall of the regime” and Dictator Saied ... your turn has come.”
“Tunisians are not accustomed to such an election. In 2011, 2014 and 2019 they expressed their opinions freely, but this election does not allow them the right to choose their destiny,” said Zied Ghanney, an opposition figure.
