Israel is returning its focus to eliminating what it says is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas in Gaza — reviving international concerns about the fate of about 1 million civilians sheltering in the south of the strip.
As tensions with Iran ease, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged late Sunday to "increase the military and diplomatic pressure” on Hamas, with the goal of freeing the remaining hostages and declaring victory in the more than six month war. That suggests an imminent and long-feared assault on Rafah, the Gazan city close to the Egyptian border where about half the enclave’s population have taken refuge.
"We will land more and painful blows on Hamas — soon,” Netanyahu said, without being more specific.