Israel prepares to launch offensive in Rafah

Israel preparing to launch a controversial offensive in Rafa that's despite mounting International pressure to abandon the plan Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says though it is the only way to defeat Hamas more now from ABC's Matt Gutman in Jerusalem Tonight Tonight Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to yield to International pressure vowing to move forward with an assault on the southern Gaza City of Rafa despite growing criticism from the US and other allies we're going to do it while we enable the civilian population in Rafa to leave as we've done up to now but we have to finish the job the IDF tells ABC News the military operational plan includes humanitarian Islands to provide food shelter and medical care to the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians in Rafa but today White House officials telling ABC's Martha radit they haven't reviewed any such plans we've not seen those plans um and as we've said before Martha we would not support such an operation unless or until they can accommodate the 1.5 million refugees that are there Aid is starting to come in by land sea and air it's not nearly enough UNICEF says that one in three children in Northern Gaza is suffering acute malnutrition we were recently at a border crossing near Rafa these are some of the dozens of trucks flowing from Israel into Gaza every day and Israel is now saying that the critical shortage in humanitarian Aid on the gazen side is not because these trucks are not being allowed through it's because the UN is unable to pick up the goods on the other side they're actually just rotting right there on the other side of the border the UN telling us tonight active firing zones have made deliveries more than high risk Mary ceasefire and hostage negotiations are set to resume as early as tomorrow in Cutter but we've learned of a new key Israeli demand that no adult males be allowed to return to Northern Gaza which has been mostly cleared of Hamas Mary we know you will be following this closely Matt thank you hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 47,321

Keywords: Israel, abc, airstrikes, gaza, news, offensive, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-108217235, rafah, war, wnt

Id: O-zPXB4f0lA

Length: 2min 18sec (138 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2024