JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel would continue its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid increasing international pressure.
Calls are growing for Israel not to enter Rafah, one of the last relatively safe areas for around 1.5 million people taking shelter over there.
“We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video speech at the pro-Israel AIPAC conference in Washington, DC.
Netanyahu’s statement comes while the European Union leaders plan to ask Israel not to start ground operations in Rafah based on the draft conclusions of the upcoming meeting.
“The European Council urges the Israeli government to refrain from a ground operation in Rafah, where well over a million Palestinians are currently seeking safety from the fighting and access to humanitarian assistance,” according to a draft document of the summit.
The draft needs to be ratified by all the EU’s 27 leaders at the summit on March 21 and 22.
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was leading the war in a way that contradicted the country’s values and was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel”.
