Israel Turns Focus Back to Hamas and Rafah as Iran Threat Eases
- Netanyahu says Israel to push for victory over militant group
- International concerns remain over fate of civilians in Rafah
Civil defense teams and residents carry out search and rescue efforts after an airstrike in Rafah on April 21.
Photographer: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty ImagesIsrael is returning its focus to eliminating what it says is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas in Gaza — reviving international concerns about the fate of about one million civilians sheltering in the south of the strip.
As tensions with Iran ease, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged late Sunday to “increase the military and diplomatic pressure” on Hamas, with the goal of freeing the remaining hostages and declaring victory in the more than six-month war. That suggests an imminent and long-feared assault on Rafah, the Gazan city close to the Egyptian border where about half the enclave’s population have taken refuge.