Because there are many israelis who believe that this will only end when they have severely degraded hamas as a Military Force and at the moment that has not happened. And people argue that to complete that task, israeli forces have to go in and, you know, take the fight the fight to hamas in rafah. But as i said, then equally, i think what we have seen in recent days during the exchange of fire between israel and iran, is one signal we have got from that is the israeli government does value its international support. It is trying to leverage the international support it got as a result of the iranian attack a week ago. I think they will be quite loathe to lose that by launching an attack on rafah that is very bloody, very deadly and unsupported by its allies
a military assistance package for israel. there have been more israeli air strikes in rafah in the south of the territory overnight. the israeli war cabinet has been planning an offensive against hamas in rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million displaced palestinians are sheltering. the us and other allies have warned israel against a full scale assault on the city. i m nowjoined by yaakov katz he is a senior fellow, at thejewish people policy institute and a senior columnist and former editor at the jerusalem post. the money from america, $26 billion, what does that mean for israel? i think it gives israel a feeling of a little more confidence and security as it contemplates the prospect of an expansion of the operation and gaza. we have been hearing a lot about the possibilities of an
the house of representatives also overwhelmingly approved a military assistance package for israel, which has been carrying out a military offensive in gaza since hamas attacked israel on october 7th. hamas is designated a terrorist organisation by western governments israel says around 1200 people were killed in that attack and around 130 israelis and foreigners are still being held hostage. gaza s health ministry says more than 311,000 palestinians have been killed inside gaza so far, most of them women and children. israel s military action continues overnight israel carried out more airstrikes in rafah, in the south of the territory. this is the aftermath. 18 palestinians have reportedly been killed mostly children. 18 palestinians have reportedly been killed mostly children. the israeli war cabinet has been planning an offensive against hamas in rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million displaced palestinians are sheltering. the us and other allies have warned israel against a
so there is aid coming through. but what is the state of relationships between the white house and benjamin netanyahu in particular? well, i think they are pretty difficult at times. there has been some moments where i thinkjoe biden, the us president has expressed his frustration pretty clearly at some of the decision making that is going on here. and the americans, the secretary of state antony blinken and others have been an incredibly explicit about saying to the israelis, do not carry out this offensive in rafah. you simply cannot do it. when there are so many civilians packed into such a small space the potential impact on civilians is huge. the potential for bloodshed is enormous. so the question remains, how are the israelis going to get round it? are they going to ignore the americans? try and mitigate some of the impact? but at the moment the israelis are making very clear that at some point they do feel they are going to have to launch
in the south, near rafah, where so many people are packed in. israel says that there are hamas fighters, brigades, that are still there and they need to go in and take the fight to hamas there. almost all of israel s allies are saying don t, particularly the united states, very, very explicitly saying, look, do not do this, because the risk to civilian life is so large. because so many people are packed into that piece of territory. so there is a huge amount of concern in diplomatic circles about how hard and when israel decides to operate in rafah. yes, because benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister also under pressure from people within his own war cabinet to take that action. yeah. look, he is under pressure, notjust from them from others. notjust from them but from others.