Israeli PM vows to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza as member of his war cabinet threatens Rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off growing calls to halt the military offensive in Gaza, vowing to "finish the job" as a member of his war cabinet threatened to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israel's government has not publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah, where more than half the enclave's 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Netanyahu's three-member war cabinet, represents an influential voice but not the final word on what might lie ahead.

"If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area," Gantz told a conference of Jewish American leaders. Ramadan, expected to begin on March 10, is historically a tense time in the region.

As ceasefire negotiations struggle after signs of progress in recent weeks, Netanyahu has called demands by Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group "delusional."

The United States, Israel's top ally, says it still hopes to broker a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement, and it envisions a wider resolution of the war sparked by the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel.

The U.S. also says it will veto another draft United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire, with its UN ambassador warning against measures that could jeopardize "the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities."

But Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, which the U.S. calls a key element in a broader vision for normalization of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia. His cabinet adopted a declaration on Sunday saying Israel "categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians" and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

The international community overwhelmingly supports an independent Palestinian state as part of a future peace agreement. Netanyahu's government is filled with hard-liners who oppose Palestinian independence.

Netanyahu wants Israel to achieve "total victory" over Hamas. In response to international concern over a Rafah offensive, he has said Palestinian civilians will be evacuated. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.

The suggested timing for the offensive came as the World Health Organization chief said southern Gaza's main medical centre, Nasser Hospital, "is not functional anymore" after Israeli forces raided it in Khan Younis last week.

Israeli strikes across Gaza continued, killing at least 18 people overnight into Sunday, according to medics and witnesses. A strike in Rafah killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another killed five in Khan Younis, the main target of the southern Gaza offensive in recent weeks. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies.

"All those who were martyred were those whom the Jews asked to move to safe places," said Ahmad Abu Rezeq, a bystander after the Rafah strike.

In Gaza City, which suffered widespread destruction early in the war, an airstrike flattened a home, killing seven people, including three women, according to relative Sayed al-Afifi.

Israel's military rarely comments on individual strikes and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas.

Raided hospital no longer functions, UN says

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said a WHO team was not allowed to enter Nasser Hospital on Friday or Saturday. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said about 200 patients remain, including 20 who need urgent referrals elsewhere.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said at least 200 militants surrendered at the hospital. He also claimed that Hamas in Khan Younis is defeated and that Hamas is largely leaderless in Gaza. He gave no evidence to support the claims.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 70 medical personnel were among those arrested, along with patients, leaving 150 patients without medical care. It said Israel refused to allow patients, including newborns, to be evacuated to other hospitals.

WATCH | Hamilton man worries for family in Rafah:

Hamilton man worries for family in Gaza as Israel plans to storm Rafah

12 hours ago

Duration 6:56

Rani Hemaid told CBC News Network about his family stuck in Gaza and Rafah.

The military says it is looking for the remains of hostages inside Nasser Hospital and does not target doctors or patients.

About 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and about 250 were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Militants still hold about 130 hostages, a quarter of them believed to be dead. Most of the others were released during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

The war in Gaza has killed at least 28,985 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. On Sunday, it said 127 bodies were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours.

About 80 per cent of Gaza's population has been displaced and a quarter face starvation. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 123 aid trucks entered Gaza through Israel's Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday and four trucks of cooking gas entered through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. That's well below the 500 trucks entering daily before the war.

In the occupied West Bank, a shootout erupted when Israeli forces went to arrest an armed suspect in the town of Tulkarm. The military said the suspect was killed, and a member of Israel's paramilitary Border Police was severely wounded. It described the target of the raid as a senior militant. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed.

The war in Gaza has threatened to ignite wider conflict in the region. The U.S. Central Command said it conducted five self-defence strikes on Saturday against cruise missiles and drones in area of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group.

U.S. to reject ceasefire resolution at UN

Algeria, the Arab representative on the UN Security Council, has circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, and rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, said the draft "will not be adopted" and runs counter to Washington's efforts to end the fighting. The U.S. vetoed previous resolutions that had wide international support.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker a ceasefire and hostage release, but Qatar said Saturday that the talks "have not been progressing as expected."

Hamas has said it will not release all remaining hostages without Israel ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza. It also demands the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including top militants.