Netanyahu weighs risks of Rafah assault as hostage dilemma divides Israelis
JERUSALEM, May 8 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces competing pressures at home and abroad when he weighs how far to push the operation to defeat Hamas in Rafah that complicates hopes of bringing Israeli hostages home.
Street demonstrations against the government by families and supporters of some of the more than 130 hostages still held in Gaza have become a constant fixture, with protestors demanding a ceasefire deal with Hamas to get them back.
Others are demanding the government and the Israeli Defence Forces press ahead with the Rafah operation against the remaining Hamas formations holding out around the city which began this week with air strikes an battles on the outskirts.
“We applaud the Israeli government and the IDF for going into Rafah,” said Mirit Hoffman, a spokesperson for Mothers of IDF Soldiers, a group representing families of serving military personnel, which wants an uncompromising line to pressure Hamas into surrender.
“We think that this is how negotiations are done in the Middle East.”
The opposing pressures mirror divisions in Netanyahu’s cabinet between centrist ministers concerned at alienating Washington, Israel’s most vital ally and supplier of arms, and religious nationalist hardliners determined to clear Hamas out of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas handed Netanyahu a dilemma this week when it declared it had accepted a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt for a halt to fighting in return for an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials rejected the offer, accusing Hamas of altering the terms of the deal. But it did not break off negotiations and shuttle diplomacy continues, with CIA chief Bill Burns in Israel on Wednesday to meet Netanyahu.
