Israeli PM Netanyahu: We Will Do What Must be Done to Win, Including Rafah

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to carry out an operation in Rafah in southern Gaza to hunt down Hamas, while speaking at a memorial ceremony for members of the Etzel paramilitary organization who died in Jaffa on Thursday.

"We will do what we have to do to win and defeat the enemy," said PM Netanyahu in his remarks, quoted from The Times of Israel, May 3.

"Including in Rafah," he continued.

Hinting at a cabinet debate over the appropriate response to Iran's attack on Israel last month, PM Netanyahu said "there were and are differences of opinion among us regarding operations in areas near and far."

"But at the end of the debate, I made a decision, and that decision was accepted," he said.

"We operated there, and we will operate here too," continued PM Netanyahu.

Previously, during his visit to Israel, Minister of Foreign Affairs Antony Blinken said that the United States still rejected plans for an operation in Rafah.

Visiting Tel Aviv earlier this week, Secretary of State Blinken also told Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that a hostage deal must be reached quickly if Jerusalem still wants to sign a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, two officials familiar with the matter said.

Secretary of State Blinken warned that the window of opportunity for a deal was closing and a massive Israeli attack on Rafah would likely close any chance of a deal being reached completely, officials said.

Israel claims it needed to enter Rafah to hunt down remnants of Hamas battalions it says are in the city which is sheltering refugees from other parts of Gaza. The United States, the United Nations, and countries around the world warned that this could lead to tragedy because of the large number of civilians in Rafah.