Israel will in “no way” halt its conflict on the Gaza Strip even when a deal is reached to launch extra hostages with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Tuesday.
His feedback are prone to complicate talks on a brand new cease-fire that had appeared to achieve momentum after Hamas launched the final residing American hostage on Monday in a gesture to U.S. President Donald Trump, who’s visiting the area however skipping Israel.
They pointed to a doubtlessly widening rift between Netanyahu and Trump, who had expressed hope that Monday’s launch of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander could be a step towards ending Israel’s 19-month conflict on the battered enclave.
In feedback launched by his workplace Tuesday from a go to to wounded troopers the day before today, Netanyahu mentioned Israeli forces had been simply days away from a promised escalation of power and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission…. It means destroying Hamas.”
Any ceasefire deal reached could be momentary, the prime minister mentioned. If Hamas had been to say they might launch extra hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu mentioned. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end.”
On Monday, Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned he directed his negotiating staff to journey to Qatar to debate a possible ceasefire and prisoner alternate settlement with the Palestinian group Hamas.
The delegation is predicted to stay in Doha not less than till Thursday amid Trump’s Gulf tour.
Israel estimates that 58 Israeli captives stay in Gaza, together with 21 who’re nonetheless alive. Meanwhile, greater than 9,900 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons, the place they face torture, hunger and medical neglect-conditions which have led to a number of deaths, in line with experiences by Palestinian and Israeli media and human rights organizations.
The Israeli military has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing greater than 52,900 Palestinians since October 2023, principally girls and youngsters.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants final November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Gaza.
Israel additionally faces a genocide case on the International Court of Justice for its conflict on the enclave.
Israel has promised to accentuate its offensive, together with by seizing Gaza and displacing a lot of the territory’s inhabitants once more.
Days earlier than the ceasefire resulted in March, Israel blocked all imports from getting into the Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian disaster and sparking warnings concerning the threat of famine if the blockade is not lifted.
Israel says the steps are supposed to stress Hamas to simply accept a ceasefire settlement on Israel’s phrases.
The World Health Organization mentioned Tuesday that in line with Gaza’s Health Ministry, 57 youngsters had died from the consequences of malnutrition because the blockade started on March 2.
Also on Tuesday, the Israeli army struck what it mentioned was a Hamas “command and control center” situated beneath a hospital within the southern Gaza metropolis of Khan Younis. The strike on the European hospital was the day’s second strike on a hospital within the metropolis.
Gaza’s Health Ministry mentioned six individuals had been killed and 40 had been wounded within the strike. The useless had been taken to Nasser hospital, the place AP reporters noticed the our bodies.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel struck Nasser hospital, saying militants had been working inside it, with out figuring out them. Two individuals, together with a journalist who was focused in an earlier strike, had been killed.
Alexander’s launch created a backlash in opposition to Netanyahu, who critics accuse of placing the lives of the hostages in peril by persevering with the conflict.
Netanyahu says he’s dedicated to returning all of the hostages, destroying Hamas and resettling a lot of Gaza’s inhabitants by means of what he refers to as “voluntary emigration.”
During an almost two-hour assembly in Tel Aviv with the households of hostages on Tuesday, the United States’ particular envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs, mentioned they might do what was wanted to carry the remaining hostages residence.
Witkoff mentioned everybody would favor a diplomatic answer and that almost all hostages had been launched by means of diplomacy.
The officers had been heading to Doha, Qatar, after their assembly to hitch Trump who’s visiting the area. Qatar has been a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.
Witkoff mentioned they would not be touring to Qatar in the event that they did not assume there was a real probability for progress in negotiations.
Netanyahu has voiced assist for a plan proposed by Trump for Palestinians to be moved out of the Gaza Strip after the conflict – a proposal that has infuriated Palestinians and Arab nations.
“We have put together an administration that will allow them to leave, but the problem with us is one thing – we need receptive countries,” Netanyahu mentioned throughout his go to to the wounded troopers Monday. “That’s what we’re working on right now. If you give them the go-ahead, I tell you that more than 50% will leave, and I think much more.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com