Israeli Minister advocates military action in Rafah despite international opposition

Shafaq News/ Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer says in podcast interview that Israel must go into Rafah to “crush” the last of Hamas's' military strength even if the world and the US opposes this.

Speaking at the "Call Me Back with Dan Senor" podcast, Dermer affirmed that Israel would press on into Rafah, despite mounting international concern over the impact of such an offensive.

"It's going to happen. And it will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone…Even if the entire world turns on Israel, including the United States - we're going to fight until the battle's won." He said.

According to Dermer the Israeli people are the “only possible force that could stop Israel,” emphasizing that there is “no way to end the war without entering Rafah, where a quarter of the military strength Hamas had before the war is currently based.”

"We'll go into Rafah because we have to dismantle Hamas's' military capabilities…If you leave four battalions in Rafah, you've lost the war. And Israel's not going to lose the war.”

The Israeli Minister described the October 7th event (when Hamas fighters entred the settlements around Gaza killing about 1200 and taking hundreds of hostages.) saying “a genocidal force that wants to wipe out all the Jews, and it's the first pogrom that we've had since the birth of the State of Israel…the fundamental promise of this country, in my view is not just that Jews return to their ancestral homeland, it's that we have the ability to defend ourselves."

"In a fundamental way, that promise was broken on October 7, and I think our job is to restore that promise," he said. "That means utterly dismantling the terror organization of Hamas in Gaza."

These statements came amid an increasing strain in the United States's relationship with Israel, and the beginning of a Middle-Eastern tour of the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza, where hunger is spreading, and hopes for a ceasefire in time for Ramadan were dashed last week.

Residents of Gaza City in the north described the most intense fighting in months around the Al Shifa hospital, when dozens were killed due to the Israeli bombaredent and the severe deficiency in medical equipment.

So far, Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, then he held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo.

The conflict, which has lasted for five months, has led to critical food shortages among Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians, reaching famine levels in some areas, according to the United Nations.

So far, Israel killed more than 31,000 Palestinians mainly children and women.