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March 28 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a U.S. bipartisan delegation in Israel that victory in the war against Hamas was only "a few weeks away" and that they have "no choice" but to launch a controversial ground offensive into Rafah. Since at least last month, Israel has planned to advance on the southern Gazan city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge following their mass displacement by the war.
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The plan has raised international concerns, with the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights stating earlier this month that the campaign "would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes."
U.S. President Joe Biden, who early in the war effusively supported Israel, has voiced skepticism about the offensive and has told Netanyahu over the phone that he has "deep concerns" over it.
On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, at the Pentagon that the United States would help find "an alternative to a full-scale and perhaps a premature military operation," a senior U.S. defense official aware of the meeting told reporters.
Speaking to the U.S. delegation on Wednesday at his office in Jerusalem, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel has no choice but to achieve victory, which he defined as the destruction of Hamas' military and governing capabilities in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages held by the Iran proxy militia, the assurance that the Palestinian enclave will never pose a threat to Israel again and the deaths of all Hamas leaders.
"That's victory," Netanyahu said, as he tapped the table before him. "Victory is within reach. It's a few weeks away."
The meeting was organized by U.S. lobby group The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and Netanyahu appeared to use it to try and secure bipartisan U.S. support for the Rafah campaign.
He suggested that opposition to the planned offensive was a barrier to achieving an Israeli victory while disagreeing with claims that the military campaign would result in a humanitarian crisis.
"It's not true," he said. "It is simply not true."
Palestinians have been forced to move throughout the Gazan Strip by the war. The United Nations estimates 1.5 million Palestinians, which is more than half of the entire enclave's 2.2 million population, are taking refuge in Rafah, which is located right by Gaza's southern border with Egypt.
Netanyahu disputed the argument that an Israeli troop invasion of Rafah would leave Palestinians there without a place to shelter, stating that they have the rest of Gaza, north of the city, where they can live.
"People move down, they can move back up," he said. "And people just move. They move with their tents."
He also said Israel would provide them with food and water and that issues preventing the resources from getting to those in need are being fixed.
"They have a place to move, we'll make sure they have it, we make sure they have shelters, we make sure they have water, we make sure they have food, medicine, field hospitals and so on," he said.
"This is almost a mass hysteria that has been built wrongly -- wrongly -- that we cannot finish the job. We have to finish the job."
He said not going into Rafah to fight Hamas would be like if the allied powers did not go into Berlin during World War II and leaving a quarter of the Nazi army intact.
"We have no choice because our very existence is on the line," he said.
He added that he knows of Biden's opposition to the plan, and that Israel at times in its history has been at odds with the United States over its military campaigns and that Israel will act alone if needed.
"I hope we don't act alone -- we will if we have to. But I don't think we are alone because I think we enjoy the support of the broad section of the American people across the political spectrum and I hope we enjoy your continued support, as well," he said.
The war began Oct. 7 with Hamas launching a brutal surprise attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Israelis and the abduction of 253 others.
Israel has responded with an ongoing ground and air offense that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The U.S. delegation that participated in the meeting consisted of Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., Jim Costa, D-Calif., Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., Juan Vargas, D-Calif., Valerie Foushee, D-N.C., Kathy Manning, D-N.C., Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., Norma Torres, D-Calif., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.
