Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the United States would be “doing a hell of a lot more” after a terrorist attack as he was questioned about the rising number of civilian deaths in Gaza.
‘What would the United States do?’ Netanyahu said on ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday. ‘Wouldn’t you be doing what Israel is doing? You would be doing so much more.
More than four months after the October 7 attacks, the death toll in Gaza is approaching 30,000, after terrorists killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas is on “another planet” with the negotiations, but added that Israel is “working on it” and aims to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
He said seeing the remaining hostages freed is included among his three goals, which he outlined again on Sunday.
Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas is on “another planet” with the negotiations, but added that Israel is “working on it” and aims to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Smoke rises after the Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
He noted that the other goals are to “destroy Hamas” and “ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.”
“Unless we have a complete victory, we cannot have peace,” Netanyahu added.
The Biden administration and Netanyahu have disagreed on the best path forward in recent weeks, as the US president calls for Palestinian governance in Gaza and a two-state solution as a long-term plan, to which the government of Israel opposes.
Last week, Israel rejected “unilateral” recognition of a Palestinian state.
He said the decision should be reached through direct negotiations.
Netanyahu pushed for a vote on Sunday. He said that “the Israeli people are united like never before,” while maintaining that “the policy is correct.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced new plans to build more than 3,300 homes in West Bank settlements, following a deadly shooting at cars near the Maale Adumim settlement that left one Israeli dead and five wounded.
The Biden administration said Friday that the plan is inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing U.S. policy on the issue that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.
‘They are also incompatible with international law. “Our administration remains firmly opposed to settlement expansion and, in our view, this only weakens, not strengthens, Israel’s security,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
He said the United States was “disappointed” by Israel’s announcement about the housing plans, saying they were counterproductive to achieving lasting peace.
The Biden administration and Netanyahu have disagreed on the best way forward in recent weeks, as the US president calls for Palestinian governance in Gaza and a two-state solution as a long-term plan, to which the government of Israel opposes.
Destroyed Palestinian houses in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday
Biden has in recent weeks asked the Israeli prime minister not to launch an invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza, where around 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge from the conflict.
Biden has urged Israel on several occasions not to move forward unless there is a “credible” plan to keep the people sheltering there safe.
Netanyahu said Sunday that when the Rafah operation is launched, “the intense phase of fighting will be weeks from completion.”
He said he had met with officials about a plan to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah and that Israel “has done everything possible” to notify the people of Gaza about the incoming bombings more broadly.
“We will get them out of harm’s way, complete the job and achieve total victory, which is necessary to give a secure future to Israel, a better future for Gaza and a better future for the Middle East,” he said. .
Biden sensationally referred to Netanyahu as “a moron” on at least three occasions and called him the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East, according to a shocking report released earlier this month.
His alleged insults came as the United States was dragged further into war and conflict in the Middle East.
A source close to the president told NBC News that Biden felt Netanyahu was “giving him hell” over the ceasefire negotiations.
Palestinians wait for humanitarian aid on a beach in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on Sunday.
‘Just feel like this is enough. He has to stop,” another source told the network. The elderly Democrat regularly calls Netanyahu “this guy” and called him an “asshole” three times.
The Israeli military proposed a plan to evacuate civilians from the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu’s office announced today, after he said a ground invasion of the southern Palestinian city of Rafah was necessary to achieve a “total victory.”
Foreign governments and aid organizations have repeatedly expressed fear that such an operation would cause mass civilian casualties.
More than 1.4 million Palestinians – most of them displaced from elsewhere – have gathered in the last Gaza city untouched by Israel’s ground troops.
It is also the entry point for desperately needed aid arriving through neighboring Egypt.
The Israeli military “presented to the War Cabinet a plan to evacuate the population from combat zones in the Gaza Strip and the next operational plan,” a statement in Hebrew from Netayahu’s office said today.
The statement did not give any details about how or where the civilians would be transferred.
The announcement comes after Egyptian, Qatari and American ‘experts’ met in Doha for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, state-linked Egyptian media reported, the latest effort to secure a truce before the month Muslim holy of Ramadan.
The United States said ongoing mediation efforts produced “an understanding” toward a ceasefire and the release of hostages, while a Hamas source said the group insisted on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
A boy is trapped as Palestinians spread out their empty containers to be filled with food, distributed by charities, behind bars as they are unable to obtain basic food supplies due to the embargo imposed by Israeli forces in Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday .
But Netanyahu – who has dismissed the withdrawal demand as “delusional” – said a ground invasion of Rafah would put Israel within weeks of a “total victory” over Hamas, whose Oct. 7 attack sparked the war.
“If we come to a (truce) agreement, it will be delayed a little bit, but it will happen,” he said of the ground invasion in the interview with CBS on Sunday.
“It has to be done because our goal is total victory and total victory is within our reach, not within months, not weeks, once we begin the operation.”
Amid a growing humanitarian crisis, the UN’s main aid agency for the Palestinians urged political action to prevent famine in Gaza.
The severe food shortage in northern Gaza is “a man-made disaster” that can be mitigated, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
“Famine can still be avoided through genuine political will to ensure access and protection to meaningful assistance.”
The UN has said it faces restrictions, particularly on aid deliveries to northern Gaza.