Netanyahu: Israeli forces will advance north as Rafah relaxes

The Israeli prime minister said the “intense phase” of the fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was almost over. The troops could now advance to the northern border with Lebanon to confront their ally Hezbollah.

In his first Israeli media interview since the war began in October, Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected the ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to be concluded soon.

However, he stressed that this “does not mean that the war will soon end” and that the actions would continue until Hamas was completely driven from power.

Commenting on escalating hostilities with Hezbollah, which have raised fears of a larger regional war, he said: “We can fight on multiple fronts and we are ready to do so.”

Since the day after the October 7 attacks in southern Israel, in which gunmen from the Gaza Strip killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage, Hezbollah has been firing rockets and drones into northern Israel in support of Hamas.

According to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 37,620 people were killed in Gaza during the military campaign launched by Israel in response.

In his interview with Israeli television Channel 14 on Sunday, Netanyahu suggested that Israel’s seven-week operation in Rafah – during which more than a million Palestinians were displaced – would be the last major offensive of the war.

“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is coming to an end,” he said. “This does not mean that the war is coming to an end, but the war in Rafah in its intense phase is coming to an end.”

The Israeli forces would “continue to mow the grass constantly,” he added. “We will not give up.”

Netanyahu also said he was ready for a “partial agreement” that would ensure the release of the 116 remaining hostages still in captivity – 41 of them are presumed dead. However, he was determined to achieve “the goal of destroying Hamas.”

Hamas, which demands a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal as part of any agreement, said the comment showed a “clear rejection” by the prime minister of the proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden last month and backed by the UN Security Council.

The first phase of the plan – which Biden said was proposed by Israel – is expected to last six weeks and include a temporary ceasefire that will see the release of some hostages. The second phase will see the release of all other living hostages during a “permanent cessation of hostilities”, the latter subject to further negotiations.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Netanyahu said his “position has not changed” and that he continues to “stand by the Israeli proposal, which President Biden welcomed.”

Later, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum released graphic video footage taken by Hamas fighters showing the October 7 abduction of three of the remaining hostages – Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Or Levy, 33, and Eliya Cohen, 26.

“We must adopt and implement an agreement that will allow the return of all hostages – the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for a proper burial!” the forum said.

Hamas also condemned the report that eight people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday on a vocational school in Gaza City run by the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) and used as an aid distribution point. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the buildings were being used by Hamas for military purposes, which the group dismissed as a “lie.”

The Israeli military said on Monday that it had killed a commander in charge of projects and development at Hamas’s weapons production headquarters in a nighttime airstrike, but did not disclose the exact location of the attack.

It also said that troops continued to conduct raids in the Rafah area, that they had tracked down weapons, destroyed several underground tunnel shafts and eliminated “a number of armed terrorists”.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi told troops in Rafah: “We are clearly approaching the point where we can say that we have disbanded the Rafah Brigade. It is defeated, not in the sense that there are no more terrorists, but in the sense that it can no longer function as a fighting unit.”

Netanyahu said that once the current phase of the Gaza war is over, Israeli forces will “look north.”

He said the deployment of troops to the border with Lebanon was “primarily for defensive purposes” but would also enable tens of thousands of Israelis who had been forced to flee their homes by Hezbollah’s rocket and missile attacks to return to their homes.

“If we can, we will do it through diplomatic means. If not, we will do it through other means. But we will bring all (residents) home.”

Israel is demanding that Hezbollah agree to withdraw its fighters several kilometers from the border, in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution passed at the end of the war in 2006. However, Hezbollah says there will be no ceasefire agreement until there is one in Gaza.

Hezbollah’s attacks have not only forced tens of thousands of residents in northern Israel to flee their homes, but have also killed at least 25 people in Israel so far. Israeli forces have responded with air and artillery strikes in Lebanon that have killed over 400 people and displaced tens of thousands, according to the UN.

Cross-border exchanges have intensified in recent weeks, as have threats from both sides.

On Monday, the Israeli military said fighter jets had attacked several Hezbollah “terror targets” in southern Lebanon overnight, including a military facility in Aitaroun and infrastructure in Kfarkela and Khiam.

The Lebanese state news agency reported that there was an air strike on a house in Aitaroun, but no casualties were reported.

The Israel Defense Forces also said two Israeli reservists from a local security team were injured, one seriously, in a Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack in the Israeli border town of Metula on Sunday evening.

On Sunday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that an Israeli offensive in Lebanon could “increase the potential for a broader conflict” that would also involve Iran and other Iranian-backed groups.

“Hezbollah is more capable than Hamas in terms of overall capacity, number of rockets and the like. And I would say Iran would be more inclined to support Hezbollah more,” General CQ Brown told reporters.

He also said it would be “more difficult” for the US to protect Israel from Hezbollah attacks than it was during Iran’s attack on Israel in April, when almost all drones and missiles fired by Iran were intercepted.

His remarks came as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was visiting Washington to discuss the next phase of the Gaza war and Hezbollah. Before his departure, Gallant said Israel was “prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon and other areas.”

Last week, the Israeli military confirmed that operational plans for an offensive against Hezbollah had been approved and Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that Hezbollah would be destroyed “in an all-out war.”

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah was not interested in a full-scale conflict, but if one were to occur, there would be “no safe place” in Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said people in the region could not afford for Lebanon to become a second Gaza.