Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that operational plans to invade Gaza’s southern city of Rafah had been approved, despite fierce opposition to the offensive. “No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel,” he said at a cabinet meeting. “To do this, we will also operate in Rafah. This is the only way to eliminate the rest of Hamas’s murderous battalions and this is the only way to apply the military pressure necessary to release all our abductees,” he added.
