Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to press ahead with an invasion of the city of Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip in defiance of United States President Joe Biden, who has warned such an offensive would be a “red line.”

Without naming them, Netanyahu claimed he had the tacit support of several Arab leaders for driving ahead with the onslaught against Hamas.

Israel’s prime minister also doubled down on his rejection of thepossibility of a Palestinian state — a topic that pits Israel against most of the rest of the world.

"The positions that I espouse are supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis who say to you after October 7: ‘We don’t want to see a Palestinian state,’” he said.

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    TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he intends to press ahead with an invasion of the city of Rafah on the southern border of the Gaza Strip in defiance of United States President Joe Biden, who has warned such an offensive would be a “red line.”

    Amid signs of increasing frustration with Netanyahu, the U.S. president told MSNBC on Saturday that he opposed an escalation of the conflict into Rafah, and that he could not accept “30,000 more Palestinians dead.”

    Relief organizations have warned that an attack on Rafah on the border with Egypt — now a refuge for about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population — would result in widespread civilian casualties.

    United Nations organizations have also warned of an imminent famine, with the first deaths from starvation already recorded, prompting the European Union to open a sea corridor to deliver aid from Cyprus.

    Israeli authorities have been criticized for blocking the delivery of humanitarian assistance by land, but Netanyahu claimed the sea convoy as his idea in the interview, and denied people were starving.

    Even in the case of what he described as a change of Palestinian “leadership” and “culture,” Netanyahu still insisted Israel should have full security control of all Arab territory west of the River Jordan.


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