Netanyahu vows Israel will continue Rafah operation after U.S. freezes bomb delivery

Amna Nawaz:

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would — quote — "stand alone, if necessary," a response to President Biden's recent move to pause deliveries of some bombs to Israel.

That decision has created a possible turning point in the U.S.-Israel relationship and the war in Gaza, with the fate of hostage negotiations in the balance.

Israel is now poised to expand its operation in Rafah, a step the U.S. is warning Netanyahu not to take.

Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.

Nick Schifrin:

In Southern Israel, tanks are massed and nearly ready for an assault. They fire at Rafah, where ongoing airstrikes ripped the roofs off homes, toppled minarets, and killed victims who are so easy to carry, the burden becomes all the heavier.

And President Biden is concerned an expanded military operation would kill more Gazans, like Yazan Hassan Mohana (ph).

Joe Biden, President of the United States: Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers.

And I made it clear that, if they go into Rafah — they haven't gone into Rafah yet. If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah.

Nick Schifrin:

But Hamas fights from Rafah, including with mortars that last weekend killed four Israeli soldiers and blocked humanitarian aid. Israel is determined to eliminate Hamas' final four battalions no matter what the U.S. says, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister (through interpreter):

If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails. And with that same strength of spirit, with God's help, together, we will win.

Nick Schifrin:

The fighting has forced some 80,000 Gazans, many already displaced, to flee Rafah. The main hospital is closed, its rooms abandoned.

Humanitarian aid shelves are nearly bare. And fuel trucks are stuck in Egypt. There's only one to two days of fuel left since Israel seized and closed the border, the U.N. said this week.

Dr. Michael J. Ryan, World Health Organization:

The first act is to stop the fuel, stop the food, stop the medicine at source, at the border. I don't call that limited, and I don't call that restricted. I call that a reimposition of total blockade on nearly 2.5 million civilians.

Nick Schifrin:

The fate of Rafah is connected to the fate of Israeli hostages. Every night their families march through Tel Aviv, demanding the government accept a deal that would pause the war to release their loved ones.

Today, National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said the U.S. shares Israel's strategic goal of an enduring defeat of Hamas, but said it disagreed with how to achieve it. Smashing into Rafah, Kirby said, will not get Israel there.

And, Amna, he also said it's unacceptable that the Rafah Crossing is not open.

Amna Nawaz:

Nick, you mentioned there in your report how the fate of Rafah is intertwined with the fate of those hostages still held in Gaza. What's the status of those negotiations?

Nick Schifrin:

CIA Director Bill Burns, who has been leading these negotiations, has left the region.

But U.S. officials tell me that that does not mean the negotiations have stopped. But there's clearly a difference between the U.S. and Israel on how those negotiations should proceed. Israel has argued that President Biden's decision about pausing some weapons deliveries and making that decision public actually strengthens Hamas' negotiating position.

But Kirby today argued that a major operation by Israel in Rafah would actually strengthen Hamas' negotiation position, because he said that operation would show that Israel is not interested in actually achieving a cease-fire-for-hostage deal, and it would cause more civilian casualties, therefore putting more diplomatic and international pressure on Israel.

But it's all coming to a head. Israel said the end of this week is the deadline. They will launch that major operation in Rafah if there is not a hostage deal.

Amna Nawaz:

Nick Schifrin beginning our coverage tonight.

Nick, thank you.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.