Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated his absolute rejection of a Palestinian state throughout a gathering with a U.S. delegation of Republican lawmakers.
The delegation is visiting Israel on behalf of the pro-Israel foyer group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
“There is an attempt to shove a Palestinian state down our throats,” Netanyahu instructed the delegation, in keeping with a press release from his workplace.
He claimed a Palestinian state “will serve as another refuge for terrorism, another launch pad for an attack, as was the Hamas ‘state’ in Gaza.”
“The vast majority of Israelis oppose such a thing,” he claimed.
Netanyahu additionally reviewed developments within the ongoing Israeli onslaught in opposition to Gaza with the delegation and his efforts to launch Israeli hostages which might be being held within the enclave.
The assembly got here hours after the Israeli premier spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Biden threatened to situation help for Israel’s offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to guard help staff and civilians, searching for for the primary time to leverage U.S. help to affect Israeli army conduct.
Biden’s warning adopted a lethal Israeli assault on World Central Kitchen help staff killing seven volunteers that spurred new calls from the president’s fellow Democrats to put situations on U.S. help to Israel. Israel stated the assault was a mistake.
Biden additionally instructed Netanyahu that an “immediate cease-fire is essential” and urged Israel to succeed in such an accord “without delay,” in keeping with the White House, which described the dialog as “direct” and “honest.”
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed greater than 33,000 individuals, largely ladies and kids, in keeping with native well being officers, and have created a humanitarian disaster.
The battle started on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian resistance group Hamas stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 individuals, and taking round 250 individuals hostage.
Hamas stated Thursday that there’s nonetheless no progress in oblique talks with Israel on a cease-fire deal as a result of Tel Aviv is “intransigent,” and has rejected each proposal that has been put ahead.
The talks, that are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar, with U.S. help, are searching for to dealer a truce in alternate for the discharge of hostages.
Israel has additionally imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its inhabitants, significantly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of mass hunger.
The offensive has pushed 85% of Gaza’s inhabitants into inside displacement amid acute shortages of meals, clear water and drugs, whereas 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been broken or destroyed by Israel, in keeping with the U.N.
Israel is accused of genocide on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which final week requested it to do extra to stop famine in Gaza.
Source: www.dailysabah.com