Netanyahu: “Intense” fighting phase in Rafah ended, but Gaza war continues

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that heavy fighting by the Israeli military against Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was almost over.

In his first interview with an Israeli broadcaster since the outbreak of war with Hamas on October 7, Netanyahu said troops would soon be deployed to the northern border with Lebanon, but for “defensive purposes.”

“The intense phase of fighting against Hamas is coming to an end,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s pro-Netanyahu Channel 14.

“This does not mean that the war is about to end, but in Rafah the war in its most intense phase is about to end,” he said.

“After the end of the intensive phase, we will be able to move some of our troops to the north, and we will do that. First of all for defense purposes, but also to bring the (displaced) residents home,” Netanyahu said.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been expelled from northern Israel, where there have been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters since the start of the Gaza war.

“The goal is to release the abductees and to uproot the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

“To say we will make Hamas disappear is to pull the wool over people’s eyes,” Hagari said.

Read more on FRANCE 24 English

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