Residents of Rafah have reported additional violence since the emergency services head of the health ministry run by Hamas was murdered by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the battle in Rafah, in southern Gaza, is almost ended, but this does not indicate that the war is ending.
He declared that the conflict would go on until Hamas was totally ousted from power.
The Israeli military will soon be able to send troops to the Lebanon border, he continued, where gunfire exchanges with Hezbollah have become increasingly intense.
Again, Mr. Netanyahu rejected the notion that Gaza should be governed by the Palestinian Authority, which is situated in the West Bank, rather than Hamas.
“In the end, you will have to do two things: you will need the ongoing military demilitarisation by the Israel Defense Forces and you will need to establish a civil administration, I hope that with the support and management of certain countries in the region, I think this is the right way to move forward,” he said in an Israeli television interview.
“I’ll tell you what I’m not ready to do, I’m not ready to establish a Palestinian state there, I’m not ready to hand it over to the Palestinian Authority. I’m not ready to do that.”
Residents of Rafah said there had been more clashes in the city, while Israeli air strikes on Gaza City are reported to have killed the Hamas-run health ministry’s director of emergency services.
Another target was an aid distribution center; according to the IDF, Hamas was using it.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is beginning his tour to Washington with the goal of talking about the situation in Gaza and the rising hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Following the catastrophic attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian armed group on October 7, which resulted in around 1,200 civilian deaths and 251 hostage-takings, the Israeli military began a campaign to eliminate Hamas.
Since then, more than 37,551 people have died in Gaza, according to the health ministry operated by Hamas in the region. Its statistics do not distinguish between combatants and civilians; but, by the end of April, it was said to have identified 14,680 women, children, and senior citizens among the dead.
