The Blubber

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that he will defy Joe Biden's "red line" and invade Rafah to prevent another attack like Oct 7, per Politco.

Per Politico: (read full article: https://www.politico.eu/article/israels-netanyahu-says-he-will-defy-bidens-red-line-and-invade-rafah/#:~:text=When%20asked%20on%20Sunday%20whether,7%20doesn't%20happen%20again.)

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 U.S. 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 — and now a refuge for about half of Gaza's 2.3 million population — would result in widespread civilian casualties. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it would be “a humanitarian catastrophe.”

When asked on Sunday whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah, Netanyahu replied: "We'll go there. We're not going to leave. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that October 7 doesn't happen again. Never happens again." The PM was referring to the murderous Hamas raid that killed more than 1,160 people in Israel and triggered the war.

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

“They understand that, and even agree with it quietly,” he said in an interview with Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company. “They understand Hamas is part of the Iranian terror axis.”

Fighting over within 'two months’
International pressure is mounting on Israel to agree a cease-fire.

The exact casualty figures are disputed, with the Hamas-controlled Gazan health ministry saying civilian deaths exceed 30,000. U.N. organizations have also warned of an imminent famine, with the first deaths from starvation already recorded, prompting the EU 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.

He also predicted the fighting could end in as little as a month.

“We've destroyed three-quarters of Hamas' fighting terrorism battalions. And we're close to finishing the last part in warfare,” the Israeli leader said. Fighting would not “take more than two months.”

“Maybe six weeks, maybe four," he added.

Netanyahu also gave his own death estimates. Some 13,000 Palestinian fighters had been killed, he said, while the civilian death rate was estimated at 1-1.5 for every combatant. That would put the total killed — fighters and civilians — at over 26,000.

He also dismissed the idea of a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying while he would “like to see another hostage release,” he didn’t see any “breakthrough in the negotiations ... Without a release there's not going to be a pause in the fighting.”