Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Vows to Fight with “Bare Hands” in Response to US Threats – Latest Updates

After the United States threatened to cut off arms supplies to Israel if it launched a major operation in Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready to fight even with its bare hands (Netanyahu said “fingers”).

“If we have to fight alone, we will fight alone. I have already said that if we have to, we will fight with our nails,” Netanyahu said in a video message on Thursday.

“But we have much more than nails, and with our strength and God’s help, we will win,” said the Israeli prime minister.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday in a television interview that the United States will stop the supply of weapons and ammunition to Israel if it launches an operation in Rafah that is full of casualties among Palestinian civilians. By now, the United States had already blocked the delivery of another batch of aerial bombs to Israel as a precaution.

Netanyahu did not directly mention this in his video message, but the content of his speech was clearly a response to the Americans.

He particularly remembered the 1948 war.

“76 years ago, in the War of Independence, we did not have many, but many enemies. We had no weapons. Israel was under military bondage. But due to the great consolidation, bravery and unity among us, we won,” the Prime Minister said.

UN officials said Thursday that more than 80,000 people have fled since Monday, when Israel ordered civilians to evacuate Rafah.

Israeli aircraft have been carrying out targeted strikes on Rafah all week.

The UN warns that Rafah, where around a million people, local residents and refugees from other parts of the Gaza Strip have gathered, is running out of food and fuel, as aid is not – now arriving through the checkpoints closest to the end of the strip.

At the beginning of the week, the Israeli army took control and closed the Rafah checkpoint on the border with Egypt, and the UN now believes that aid deliveries through the nearby Kerem Shalom checkpoint on the border with Israel too dangerous.

President Joe Biden warned Israel midweek that the US would cut off some arms sales if it launched a major ground operation in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah.

“If they go into Rafah, I will not give up the weapons that have ever been used to deal with Rafah,” Biden said in a CNN interview that aired Wednesday. He said he would try to co- at least to ensure Israel’s security.

Despite strong and vocal protests from the US, Israel still says it is ready to storm Rafah, considered Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained that Biden does not believe that a major offensive on Rafah will help Israel defeat Hamas. At the same time, Kirby assured, the United States still shares this goal with Israel.

“The facts do not support claims that we are somehow abandoning Israel, or that we don’t want to help them defeat Hamas,” Kirby said.

At the same time, hopes for a peace agreement, which seemed bright at the beginning of the week, are now steadily declining. Delegations from Israel and Hamas left Cairo on Thursday, where they held talks through mediators.

Israel, however, has not given any clear signs that it is ready for peace at the moment: on the contrary, the Israelis believe that they must end this war, which began seven months ago, with a victory, that is, to defeat Hamas completely. , and this is impossible without him in Rafah and the destruction of the remaining battalions of the group.

In addition, the Israelis believe that Rafah holds the remaining hostages captured by Hamas during the October 7 attack. According to Israeli estimates, another 128 hostages have not been found or released. 36 of them are presumed dead.