Israeli PM Netanyahu Says He Needs Time to Prepare Before Launching an Attack on Rafah

PM Netanyahu met Israeli soldiers. (Source: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would soon approve a plan to evacuate civilians from the war zone, in a video released two days after speaking with United States President Joe Biden by telephone.

PM Netanyahu said he appreciated President Biden's support, and that the president asked to present US proposals regarding humanitarian aid and other aspects of the war.

He then sent his top aides to Washington on Sunday. The operational plan, said PM Netanyahu, had been approved.

"While we prepare to enter Rafah, which will take time, we continue to operate with all our might," said PM Netanyahu, quoted from The Times of Israel, March 21.

"We continue to operate in Khan Younis, in the central camps, to remove and arrest senior Hamas officials as we just did at Shifa Hospital, while eliminating hundreds of terrorists," he said.

"As I have promised you many times, we are determined to achieve absolute victory and we will achieve it," he said.

As previously reported, PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejected United States President Joe Biden's request to cancel plans for a ground attack on Rafah, the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million refugees, but which Israel believes is a hiding place for Hamas militants.

PM Netanyahu told lawmakers on Tuesday that he had made it "very clear" to the US President, "that we are determined to complete the annihilation of these battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do that except by going to the field", reported Reuters.

US and Israeli officials will likely meet early next week in Washington to discuss Israel's military operation in Rafah, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday, citing deep concern about reports of imminent famine in Gaza.

Jean-Pierre said President Biden had asked PM Netanyahu to send a senior team consisting of military, intelligence, and humanitarian officials to Washington for comprehensive discussions in the coming days.