JERUSALEM: Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told Israel’s “enemies and friends” on Wednesday (May 9) that it would do whatever necessary achieve its war aims in Gaza and the north, in an apparent response to US pressure to halt its operation in Rafah.
The comments, at a ceremony to commemorate Israel’s war dead, followed US President Joe Biden’s warning that the United States would halt weapons supplies if Israel moved into Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
“I turn to Israel’s enemies as well as to our best of friends and say – the State of Israel cannot be subdued,” he said, according to remarks released by his office. “We will stand strong, we will achieve our goals – we will hit Hamas, we will hit Hezbollah, and we will achieve security.”
The comments, from one of the war cabinet ministers considered to be most sensitive to the risk of alienating the United States, underlined the scale of the standoff between the Biden administration and the Israeli government.
“We have no choice, we have no other country. We will do whatever is necessary, and I repeat – whatever is necessary, in order to defend the citizens of Israel, to remove the evil threats against us, and to stand up to those who attempt to destroy us,” he said.
