A day after President Joe Biden threatened to cut off weapons supply if Israel pressed ahead with the military operation against the last remaining Hamas stronghold of Rahaf, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has taken control of the eastern part of the terrorist-controlled city.
In an apparent move of defiance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday posted a recent speech on Twitter/X, declaring that “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
President Biden, on Wednesday, warned that if Israel presses ahead with the operation, the administration will not supply “the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities.”
“We’re not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells used,” the president said in an interview with CNN.
The Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Prime Minister Netanyahu’s defiant response:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Thursday to US President Joe Biden’s threats by sharing a video of an address he had made several days earlier to social media.In the address that Netanyahu shared, which he made on Sunday at the ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the Prime Minister stated: “Eighty years ago, in the Holocaust, the Jewish people were totally defenseless against those who sought our destruction. No nation came to our aid.”Today, we again confront enemies bent on our destruction.”Netanyahu continued: “I say to the leaders of the world, no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself.”He concluded by pledging: “As the Prime Minister of Israel – the one and only Jewish state – I pledge here today from Jerusalem on this Holocaust Remembrance Day: If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. But we know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies. Never again is now!”
Meanwhile. the Israeli military is advancing against Hamas’s terrorist buildup in Rafah. After launching the offensive on Monday, the troops were now “in control of eastern neighborhoods of Rafah,” the TV channel i24NEWS confirmed Thursday.
The military “reiterated that the operation remains “limited and targeted,” showcasing footage of ground maneuvers as its forces occupy the eastern neighborhoods of the city,” the TV channel reported. “Israeli troops have begun extensive searches for terrorist tunnels and weapons in these areas.”
The Israeli military was destroying Hamas’s fighting capabilities and terrorist infrastructure. “Amid the IDF’s ongoing operation in the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, some 50 gunmen have been killed by troops, according to the latest estimates by the military,” The Times of Israel reported Thursday. “Another 10 tunnel shafts have been found, and they are being prepared for demolition.”
The news website described the IDF’s push into Rafah as a limited operation, focused only on the eastern part of the city. “The IDF currently does not plan to expand the evacuation order to other areas of Rafah, as the ongoing operation remains relatively limited in scope amid hostage negotiations with Hamas,” The Times of Israel added.
The Israeli military was also hitting Hamas targets elsewhere in Gaza, launching an operation in the central part of the Hamas-infested enclave.
“IDF troops began an operation against terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area of Zeitoun in central Gaza,” the military said in a press release Thursday morning. “The operation began with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on approximately 25 terror targets, including military structures, terror tunnels, observation posts, sniper posts, and additional terror infrastructure.”
After a large-scale Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in early April amid mounting pressure from the Biden White House to scale down the military operation, the boots were back on the ground in central Gaza. “IDF ground troops are currently operating to secure the area of Zeitoun,” the military disclosed in the press release.
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