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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023. (Credit: Abeer Sultan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli operations in Rafah, south of Gaza, will last “several weeks” after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he would continue the offensive, sparking international concern.

“I repeat: We will work in Rafah. It will take several weeks and it will happen,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of a government meeting.

“To my friends in the international community, I say: Is your memory so short? Have you forgotten so quickly October 7, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust?”

His comments came ahead of an interview this Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

Netanyahu said that “operational plans for action in Rafah, including stepping up steps to evacuate civilians from war zones,” were approved. “This is a necessary step before military action.”

Netanyahu further said that in the international community, “there are those who are trying to prevent a war by making false accusations against the IDF, the Israeli government, and the Prime Minister of Israel”.

He said, “They are doing this by trying to provoke elections in the middle of the war. They do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months. “

REMEMBER: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday criticized the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for new elections in a speech on the Senate floor about the war between Israel and Hamas.

Separately, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “gravely concerned” about the attack in Rafah, where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.