5/27/2024–|Last updated: 5/27/202409:17 PM (Mecca time)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered on Monday that the massacre that took place in Rafah last night was a catastrophic mistake, while opposition leader Yair Lapid held him responsible for “the greatest failure of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Netanyahu said that an air strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah was not intended to cause civilian deaths and injuries, and that it would be investigated.
“In Rafah, we have already evacuated about a million non-combatants, and despite our best efforts not to harm the non-combatants, unfortunately something has gone tragically wrong,” he added in a speech in the Knesset, which was interrupted by boos from opposition members.
He continued, “We are investigating the incident and will reach conclusions, because this is our policy.”
Exchange deal
Netanyahu said that since December until now, he has received 5 requests from the negotiating team to expand his powers, and he agreed to each of them.
He stressed that he is not ready to end the war before achieving all its goals, and that he will not raise the flag of surrender and will continue fighting, and will face pressure at home and abroad, and there is no alternative to overwhelming victory, according to him.
He added that he hears “voices that deny the ability to achieve victory, and I tell them that the goal is to defeat Hamas and return the kidnapped people.”
He explained that he met with the families of the detainees in Gaza this morning, and promised them that he would spare no effort to return their families to their homes.
“The sinwar is the obstacle”
In his speech before the Knesset, Netanyahu held the head of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, responsible for not completing an exchange deal, saying, “Sinwar is the only obstacle to the release of the kidnapped people, not me.”
He stressed that he demands surrender conditions from Israel that pose a threat to its existence, and stressed that pressure must be directed towards Hamas, and “we are doing that and fighting forcefully in the north, center and south of the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Netanyahu’s speech witnessed a boycott by some representatives in the presence of some families of Israeli detainees in Gaza.
Lapid: Netanyahu’s government has no legitimacy
On the other hand, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Netanyahu is not qualified to remain prime minister and that he has failed in his mission.
Lapid added, in his speech before the Knesset, that the Israeli government is illegitimate, and that its president, Benjamin Netanyahu, is responsible for the greatest failure of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, according to him.
Lapid addressed Netanyahu, saying: Your government ministers steal public money, cause problems, and destroy the future of our children, and you are responsible for the greatest failure in our history, so why are you still prime minister?
