Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “intense” fighting in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is nearly over, more than eight months into the devastating war. “The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 network, without providing a clear timeline. “It doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah.” In early May, troops entered the southern city, on the besieged territory’s border with Egypt, despite global alarm over the fate of Palestinian civilians sheltering t…