Israel’s military spokesman says the army has the weapons it needs to press ahead with its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari was asked at a news conference whether the army can conduct the operation without U.S. arms.
“The army has armaments for the missions it plans, and for the missions in Rafah too — we have what we need,” Hagari said.
Hagari spoke after U.S. President Joe Biden said he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concerns for the civilians there.
Hagari said relations with the U.S. remain close, and that disagreements should be resolved behind closed doors.
Separately, Prime Minister Netanyahu noted that Israel has won previous wars despite weapons embargoes, such as in 1948.
“During the War of Independence 76 years ago, we were few against many,” he said. “We had no weapons, there was an arms embargo on Israel, but with the strength of the soul, the bravery and the unity within us — we won.”
“Today we are much stronger,” Netanyahu continued. “We are determined and we are united to defeat our enemy and those who seek to destroy us.
“If we have to stand alone we will stand alone. I’ve already said that if we have to — we will fight tooth and nail. But we will have much more than nails,” Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile, the White House is insisting that its threat to end weapons transfers to Israel is nothing more than a disagreement over how the war should continue.
“We believe that [Israel has] put an enormous amount of pressure on Hamas and that there are better ways to go after what is left of Hamas in Rafah than a major ground operation,” White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
“Early on in the conflict, Hamas didn’t feel and hadn’t suffered the kinds of pressure and the kinds of casualties that they have suffered now,” he said. “[Israel has] eliminated a lot of the leaders through the fighting that they have conducted over the last several months. They have decimated the ranks of many of their units. The picture of Hamas today is not what it was six months ago.”
(YWN/AP)
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3 Responses
we would accomplish our goals much better and with much lower world opposition to just hold our ground in northern Gaza without moving until our hostages are all returned. why do we have to flex muscles all the time?
I can hardly wait for the current Administration, populated by a collage of idiotic and/or evil amateurs, is replaced by the professional Trump team. The current group’s display of weakness and stupidity has caused wars and deaths (Middle East, Ukraine, etc.) that would not have occurred had the blessed previous Administration remained in place.
Too much endless talking and self-serving political posturing by right and left going back to the first day after the attack….”we are ready to prepare, to commence the beginning of a possible ground operation etc..” Just do it as quickly as operationally feasible, destroy as many tunnels as possible and neutralize remaining Hamas leadership whose locations are known. The longer this goes on, the more difficult it will be and risks losing support even among Republicans. If you haven’t noticed, even Trump has been waffling and ramping up his criticism of Netanyahu.