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For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, these images are an urgently needed success: On Monday night, an Israeli special commando rescued two of the more than 130 hostages from the hands of Hamas terrorists.

Israeli soldier:


"It's great that you're with us now."

The pressure on Israel's government has been growing for weeks. More and more Israelis are demanding that everything be done now to save the remaining hostages. The families of the abductees feel abandoned. The successful rescue of hostages is now all the more important for Netanyahu:

Richard C. Schneider, DER SPIEGEL:


»You really have to know one thing: Netanyahu is someone who never, never, never gives up. Never. And he is washed with all water. He is actually an incredibly smart and clever politician who was often no, actually not just often, but who was actually always able to read his own society much better than all of his political opponents. He understands what makes Israelis tick. He knows which people he can retain and how. And he has been doing this very skillfully for many, many years now. And every time you thought it was over, he did it again."

At the moment, the global community is focusing on the city of Rafah, which is considered the last bastion of the terrorist organization Hamas. Over a million Palestinians have fled here in the past few weeks, partly because the Israeli government asked them to go to the south of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has now announced that he will bring Rafah under his control militarily.

Richard C. Schneider, DER SPIEGEL:


»The question is what this offensive in Rafah will actually look like. Will it succeed? And the army should develop these plans and the Israelis should say: We definitely want to create corridors where these around 1.5 million people can move out. Bracket: Where exactly is not clear at the moment. And what is also not clear is how this is supposed to work. But if it is possible to get most of the civilians out of there, then the discontent will remain, but then the international community will somehow also go along with it. More or less, as has been the case for the last few months. «

For Netanyahu, the main thing is that he wants to stay in power. However, the total failure of all security organs in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th, as well as his refusal to take responsibility for it, did massive damage to Netanyahu.

Richard C. Schneider, DER SPIEGEL:


»There is a lot of speculation within Israel that he wants to prolong a war, because it is now actually the case that well over seventy percent of the Israeli population wants Netanyahu gone. And he, many people think, wants to fight this war for as long as possible so that he can survive for as long as possible and possibly with certain successes. We have seen that two hostages have now been freed in Rafah by a special squad. Maybe he can still get more hostages free. That would be a victory for him. That would make him popular again among part of the population. And so he hopes, perhaps by prolonging this war, to be able to hold on to power."

Israel's planned offensive on Rafah is met with sharp international criticism. The US is pushing for a ceasefire and US President Biden on Monday again urged the civilian population to be protected during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Richard C. Schneider, DER SPIEGEL:


»

If there are very large civilian casualties there, I think that will also be a moment where US President Biden in particular will react very massively because the election campaign is currently breaking down together and he wants to be re-elected. And with this form of alliance he will no longer be able to win the election campaign. And that will be a huge problem. And of course the Europeans are becoming increasingly aggressive in their tone and will certainly try behind the scenes to somehow stop Netanyahu.”

Many of the displaced people in Rafah have already fled several times during the war and no longer know where to go. What's next?

Richard C. Schneider, DER SPIEGEL:


»Mine

The assumption is that this war will last a maximum of another month, not even a month: Because Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, begins in March. And as this war drags into Ramadan, it would potentially unleash additional aggression throughout the Muslim world, which would be even more provocative. And I can also very well imagine that the Americans will now put very, very massive pressure on ensuring that at least this major attack on Gaza is over by the beginning of Ramadan.