“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers Israel’s dominance of Rafah a “four to six week affair” once the operation begins and asserted that the Israeli military is making every effort to prevent civilian deaths. He even emphasized that his policy is supported by “the vast majority” of his compatriots.

“If the US president thinks that I am pursuing a personal policy against the wishes of the Israelis and harming the interests of my country, he is wrong on both counts,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an interview with BILD, responding to criticism leveled at him by Joe Biden, saying his actions are “doing more good than harm” and asking him to “pay more attention to the plight of the Palestinians.”

The Israelis “support the measures we are taking to destroy the remaining Hamas factions because they understand that if we don’t do it now, we will have a repeat of the massacre of October 7, and that will be bad for the Israelis and for the Palestinians and for peace in the Middle East,” Mr. Netanyahu continued, and also rejected international criticism of plans to attack Rafah. “We are very close to victory. It’s a matter of weeks until the fighting phase is over,” he said and spoke of four to six weeks from the beginning of the attack. “We destroyed three-quarters of the Hamas battalions. Giving up now would be like leaving a quarter of the “Islamic State” in Mosul,” the Israeli prime minister said characteristically, and expressed the belief that Hamas “will resettle and start again” if it is not dismantled.

Benjamin Deniahu also said that the number of civilians killed in Gaza “is much lower” than the one released by the Hamas Health Ministry, which says 31,000 deaths, without however distinguishing between Hamas members and civilians. The Israeli army had killed “at least 13,000 terrorists”, Mr Netanyahu said and claimed that “the ratio of civilians to terrorists is 1:1”, calling any civilian death a “tragedy” and reiterating that Israel was “doing everything it can to to prevent it.” In addition, he accused Hamas of being responsible for the deaths of civilians, as he said it “does everything it can to put them in danger.”

Answering a question about the pressure he is receiving from Western countries, Benjamin Netanyahu noted: “Where was that pressure when a million Muslims were either being massacred or driven from their homes? Millions in Iraq, Syria, Yemen. Where were the demonstrations?”

The Israeli prime minister also appeared cautious about a possible new ceasefire and hostage exchange. “In the negotiations, Hamas will walk away with nothing,” he said, adding that “the terrorists do not wish at this time to reach an agreement with Israel.” Their strategy, he continued, is to “increase international pressure on Israel and convince the international community to prevent Israel from bringing about the final defeat of Hamas forces.”