A boy carries items salvaged from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombing of the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, June 22, 2024, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Omar Alqata | AFP | Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense” phase of fighting in the war-torn Gaza region was coming to an end, while stressing that the wider war against Hamas continued.
In a rare live interview with Israeli news media, Netanyahu told Channel 14 that the Jewish state would be able to mobilize more troops near Lebanon’s northern border, where hostilities against Iran-backed Hezbollah have surged over the past two weeks. .
Netanyahu said: “After the tense phase is over, we will have the possibility to move some of our forces north. We will do that. First for defensive purposes. Secondly, to bring our (evacuated) residents home.” Translated by Reuters.
“If we can, we will do it through diplomacy. If not, we will do it in other ways. But we will bring (residents) home.”
Thousands of Israeli and Lebanese civilians have been displaced from border-facing settlements in the crossfire since the war between Israel and Lebanon in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October. Hezbollah, which claims solidarity with the Palestinian plight, has stepped up bombings since the Israeli Defense Forces reported the killing of a senior Lebanese faction commander on June 12.
Asked when the intense fighting against Hamas would end, Netanyahu said on Sunday, “very soon,” according to Google Translate Channel 14 reports.
He offered no clear timetable, stressing that Israeli forces would not “stop” in operations in Rafah, which until last month had provided shelter to more than half of the Gaza enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
Netanyahu once again raised the topic of “the second day” of the Gaza conflict, emphasizing that Israel must first eliminate the capabilities of Hamas, allow the IDF to maintain military control of the Gaza enclave, and “establish a free-for-all in the Gaza Strip.” An Israeli-run government.” Moderate countries in the region. ” That would effectively eliminate the possibility of establishing a separate, independent Palestinian state — something some Western countries support but Netanyahu has so far openly opposed — or handing over regional governance to the Palestinian Authority, which is responsible for oversees the majority of the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Prime Minister said: “I believe that military control of the Gaza Corridor is necessary and that settlement in the Gaza Corridor is impractical.” Establishing settlements in the Gaza enclave, Israel withdrew in 2005.
Despite his intention to shift to a lower-intensity campaign, Netanyahu said he was unwilling to “stop the war and leave Hamas intact” and stressed that Israel was prepared to fight in multiple battles if it “needs to accept this challenge.” Fight online. Rhetoric between the Israeli and Lebanese sides has turned heated in recent days, with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warning of the prospect of “all-out war” and Hezbollah leader Said Hassan Nasrallah Threatening to break out “conflict without rules and without red lines.”
According to Reuters, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region to speak with Israeli and Lebanese leaders in an effort to ease tensions, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock announced plans to travel to Lebanon on Monday to discuss “very disturbing discussions.” Worried about the border situation.
Washington has staunchly supported Israel after the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, but has come under increasing pressure over its military support for the Jewish state and has expressed concern about the conflict in Gaza and the proportion of Palestinian casualties. More than 37,000 people have died in Gaza since October, according to the latest data from the local health ministry. The White House has been pushing for a peace framework amid the hostilities in Gaza, but that framework has so far stalled without mutual recognition from Israel and Hamas.
The rift in U.S.-Israeli relations showed signs of deepening, with Netanyahu doubling down on Sunday that Washington had been reducing arms shipments.
“About four months ago, arms supplies arriving in Israel from the United States dropped sharply. For weeks, we asked our American friends to speed up shipments. We did this again and again,” Netanyahu told The Weekly cabinet meeting said. Comments from his office. “We’ve been given all kinds of explanations, but one thing we haven’t been given is that the basic situation hasn’t changed.”
CNBC has contacted the U.S. State Department.
Netanyahu’s comments came as Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galant traveled to Washington on Sunday to meet with U.S. officials. Emphasis on social media “The United States is Israel’s most important ally and is more important than ever.”
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