Netanyahu withdraws from operation in Rafah with population “trapped”

“It is not something we will do leaving the population trapped. In fact, we will do the opposite“, he stated, at a time when the international community has warned against an attack by Israeli forces in this city, where, according to the United Nations, almost 1.5 million Palestinians are displaced.

After the meeting, in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem, Scholz opposed a land invasion of Rafahthe last safe haven in the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel, four battalions of the Islamist movement Hamas are still active in this city in the south of the enclave, on the border with Egypt.

“How can we protect more than 1.5 million people, where can they go?” asked the chancellor, who expressed reluctance not only for reasons of “military logic”, but above all, like other powers, including the United States , they have already warned, for humanitarian reasons.

Previously, at the beginning of his executive meeting, Benjamin Netanyahu had guaranteed that international pressure will not prevent Israel from launching an offensive in Rafah.

“No international pressure will stop us from achieving all the objectives of our war [contra o Hamas]. We will act in Rafah, it will take a few weeks, but it will happen”, said the Israeli Prime Minister. Netanyahu refuses agreement that weakens the country

The Israeli Prime Minister stressed, however, that will refuse a peace agreement that makes Israel “weak” before his Middle Eastern neighbors, while his German counterpart called for a “hostage agreement and a lasting ceasefire” in Gaza.

“If they propose to us an agreement, a path to peace that makes Israel weak and incapable of defending itself […]this will push back peace”, declared Benjamin Netanyahu to the press, after the meeting with Olaf Scholz.

For your side, the German ruler defended the need for “an agreement on the hostages and a lasting ceasefire”.

Stating that he understands “the families of the hostages who say that the time has come for an agreement to save the captives”, the chancellor asked for greater flexibility from the Israeli prime minister to allow the release of the 134 hostages who remain in the enclave, many of whom have already died.

Scholz questioned the high number of civilian casualties and urged Netanyahu to allow more aid into the enclave.

“We cannot stand by and watch the Palestinians run the risk of starving to death, that is not what we stand for together,” he said, after describing as “legitimate” Israel’s objective of eliminating Hamas to avoid a new 7 October , when the Palestinian Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people.

The German chancellor argued that Israel must “urgently and massively” improve the distribution of food and aid in Gaza, something that humanitarian groups have been saying for weeks can only be achieved by land if Israel agrees to open other access points to Gaza. border through Egypt and Jordan.

“But the longer the war lasts, the greater the number of civilian victims and the more desperate the situation of the population of Gaza, the more the question arises: no matter how important the objective, does it justify such high costs Or are there other solutions?” he asked.

Faced with these appeals, Netanyahu repeated that “Israel will do everything in its power to minimize civilian casualties and maximize the delivery of aid.”

Scholz also reiterated Germany’s support for a two-state solution for the post-war period, a solution rejected by Tel Aviv. Germany, since the Hamas attacks on October 7, has been among the countries that have shown the most solidarity with Israel.

The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered after the Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, and more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel responded with intense attacks, which have killed more than 31,600 people and injured more than 73,600 people, according to Hamas, in power in the Palestinian enclave. Close to 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are internally displaced, the overwhelming majority in Rafah.

The United Nations has warned of imminent widespread famine in the Palestinian territory and nearly 30 children have died from acute malnutrition.