People gather around a car wrecked by Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 7, 2024. (Credit: Said Khatib/AFP)
TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah in southern Gaza, promising a "total victory" by Israel over Hamas in some months' time.
His disclosure came after a meeting with US Secretary Antony Blinken over a proposed deal by Hamas to pause fighting in the four-month-old war, which the Israeli leader called "bizarre."
A defiant Netanyahu instead said the impact of an Israeli victory over the Palestinian militant group would be felt across the Middle East, and bring wider peace.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier said he was "alarmed" by reports the Israeli military would push on into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled to escape daily bombardments.
The city's population has now swollen to more than one million — half of the population of the Palestinian territory.
"Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences," Guterres said.
But Netanyahu announced no let-up in the Israeli military's push to root out the masterminds of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, which left about 1,160 dead in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
Militants also seized some 250 hostages. Israel says 132 are still in Gaza, of whom 32 are believed to have died.
Israel's relentless ground and air offensive in response has killed at least 27,708 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israeli troops have in recent days been focused on Khan Younis, home of the suspected mastermind of last year's attacks, Hamas' Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar.
"We have instructed the [Israeli army] to prepare to operate in Rafah and two central [refugee] camps, the last remaining strongholds of Hamas, as well," Netanyahu said.
He added at a televised media briefing: "At the end of the day, elimination of Hamas will radiate to the entire Middle East and will allow us to expand the circle of peace with our neighbors."
Maintaining military pressure was "an essential condition for the release of hostages," he went on, dismissing Hamas' proposals for a cease-fire and hostage deal.
"Surrender to the bizarre demands of Hamas ... will not only not lead to the release of the hostages, it will only invite another massacre," he added.
"It will invite a severe disaster to the state of Israel that none of our citizens is prepared to accept."
Netanyahu's government has faced mounting pressure from the hostages' families, who are frustrated by the deprioritization of the return of their loved ones and worried about the threat posed to the hostages' lives by the ongoing Israeli bombardment.
TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah in southern Gaza, promising a "total victory" by Israel over Hamas in some months' time.
His disclosure came after a meeting with US Secretary Antony Blinken over a proposed deal by Hamas to pause fighting in the four-month-old war,...