Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the Israeli military's tough war against terror-stamped Hamas in the heavily besieged border town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip will soon be over.
The intensive phase of the battles against Hamas is on its way to being concluded. They are on their way to being phased out. It does not mean that the war is on its way to ending, but the war in its intensive phase is on its way to ending in Rafah, he says in an interview with Israeli TV channel Channel 14.
After the war's start on 7 October, over a million people crowded into tents and overcrowded apartments in Rafah after fleeing Israel's military offensive in other parts of the Gaza Strip.
Israel entered the area at the beginning of May despite the US advising against it due to the humanitarian cost of an offensive in such a densely populated area.
The disagreement between the otherwise very close allies Israel and the US has grown in connection with the Israeli ground offensive.
