War in Gaza: daggers drawn dialogue between Joe Biden and Benyamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu is doing more harm than good to his country, said Joe Biden.
A ground offensive in Rafah is a “
red line
” that must not be crossed, the American president said.
After this change of tone from Washington, the response from the Israeli Prime Minister was not long in coming.
“If the American president wants to say that the interests I defend go against the will of the majority of Israelis and that this harms Israel's interests, well he is wrong on both points,” Benyamin said. Netanyahu.
AP - Abir Sultan
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“ False and unfounded
” criticism
proclaims the Israeli Prime Minister in an interview with
Politico
magazine , reports our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Michel Paul
.
“
If the American president wants to say that the interests I defend go against the will of the majority of Israelis and that this harms
Israel
's interests , well he is wrong on both points.
It's anything but private interests.
The overwhelming majority of Israelis are behind me
,” said Benyamin Netanyahu.
This time clearly the knives are drawn.
The Israeli Prime Minister also affirms that he has his “red line”: that the events of October 7, 2023 can never happen again.
More determined than ever, the head of the Israeli government reaffirms that a
ground offensive
in the city of Rafah where nearly a million and a half Gazans are refugees is essential to definitively defeat Hamas.
Victory is “
very close
,” he told the German daily
Bild
.
Three quarters of Hamas battalions were destroyed.
Which represents around 13,000 terrorists.
And for Netanyahu it is a matter of a few weeks of fighting.
Hope must come from the sea
And while new aid packages were transported by air yesterday, Sunday March 10, it is now by sea that the food must arrive,
via
a maritime corridor linking Cyprus to the Palestinian enclave.
Residents gathered on the beach in the south of
Gaza
City in the hope of seeing a ship.
But in vain.
Indeed, writes our special correspondent in Cyprus,
Sophie Guignon
, the departure of this ship loaded with 150 tonnes of aid was postponed several times this weekend.
The spokesperson for the Cypriot government, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, announced its imminent departure on March 10, but the ship is still at dock this morning of March 11.
He then cited technical difficulties.
Teams have been preparing for this departure for several weeks; the crossing to Gaza will take two days to cover the 370 km that separate the island of Cyprus from the Gaza Strip.
In the meantime, at the port of Larnaca, the Israeli authorities announced that they were inspecting the cargo, “
according to their standards
”.
The launch of this humanitarian corridor is in any case a test for Cyprus, this small state which joined the European Union in 2004, and which finds itself at the heart of international tension to face an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Read alsoGaza: a first boat expected from Cyprus, the hope of a maritime corridor to deliver aid
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