Israeli tanks surround tent camp in south Gaza ‘safe zone’

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

It is worth mentioning that this is Benjamin Netanyahu’s first interview to Israeli media since the war began back in October.

He talked about a wide variety of topics. The first that is making the headlines is that the fighting in Rafah is nearly over. Now, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, because just last week on June 17, the Israeli army had released a statement saying they had defeated around half of Hamas’s military capabilities in Gaza’s southern most city and that their operations would take a few more weeks to complete.

Now, Netanyahu also talked abut the situation that is escalating on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, saying that perhaps there could be a diplomatic settlement to solve the problem and that if that’s not going to be the case, Israel is fully prepared for an all-our war with Hezbollah.

Additionally, he also talked about the idea of some sort of governance in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas needed to be defeated both militarily and politically and that he’s committed to these goals of the war. He has said he is interested in some sort of ceasefire deal, a pause in the fighting, but that the war would still need to continue, meaning that even if there is a pause in the fighting, the Israeli army is going to continue until all of its objectives are achieved.