Report: PM tells lawmakers Israel will go into Rafah despite US request

After a new demand from the White House to avoid a major operation in Rafah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says in a closed meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel will enter the southern Gaza city.

“The Americans asked that we not do an operation in Rafah,” he says, according to Arutz Sheva, “but there is no other choice. We need control over the Philadelphi Route,” he continues, referring to the border route running along the Egypt-Gaza border.

On humanitarian aid, Netanyahu says they are looking into outside organizations to distribute food, as well as “private companies.”

Netanyahu tells the powerful parliamentary body that “from Israel’s standpoint, there is nothing preventing Gazans from leaving, but there aren’t countries in the world that are ready to receive them.”

He adds that Israel is building a new border crossing at Kerem Shalom “to replace the Rafah Crossing” into Egypt and that Israel will have control over it.