Published January 31, 2024
Jenin, West Bank | Israeli forces disguised as civilian women and medics stormed a hospital on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) in the occupied West Bank, killing three Palestinian militants in a dramatic raid that underscored how deadly violence has spilled into the territory from the war in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile ruled out a military withdrawal from Gaza or the release of thousands of jailed militants — Hamas’ main two demands for any ceasefire — casting doubt on the latest efforts to end a war that has destabilised the broader Middle East.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces opened fire inside the Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank town of Jenin. A hospital spokesperson said there was no exchange of fire, indicating it was a targeted killing.
Israel’s military said the militants were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. It alleged that one of those targeted had transferred weapons and ammunition to others for a planned attack, purportedly inspired by Hamas’ October 7 assault on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Security camera footage from the hospital shows about a dozen undercover forces, most of them armed, wearing Muslim headscarves, hospital scrubs or white doctor’s coats. One carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other.
Netanyahu rejects key Hamas demands
Mr Netanyahu, speaking at an event elsewhere in the West Bank, denied reports of a possible ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza and repeated his vow to keep fighting until “absolute victory” over Hamas.
“We will not end this war without achieving all of our goals,” said Mr Netanyahu, who is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages and the wider public to reach a deal. “We will not withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” he said.
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SOURCE: www.afr.com
RELATED: Netanyahu: Israel won’t free ‘thousands of terrorists’ or withdraw IDF for hostage deal
While his right flank blasts a framework that Israel reportedly agreed to in Paris, Netanyahu says IDF will not leave Gaza; Hamas says it is studying proposal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Bnei David military academy in the West Bank settlement of Eli, January 30, 2023. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Published January 30, 2024
As reports emerged about a potential hostage framework deal with Hamas that includes an extended pause in the fighting and the freeing of a large number of Palestinian security prisoners, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told students at a pre-military academy in the West Bank that Israel would not release “thousands of terrorists.”
“We will not remove the IDF from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” he pledged, speaking at the Bnei David academy in Eli. “None of this will happen. What will happen? Absolute victory!”
Multiple media reports indicated Israel agreed during a meeting in Paris on Sunday with the US, Qatar, and Egypt to a framework that would see all Israeli hostages released, starting with women, children, the elderly and the sick. There would be “phased pauses” in Israel’s war against Hamas while the process played out, the reports said.
Israel would also allow more aid into Gaza and would release very large numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
The framework reportedly does not provide for a permanent ceasefire, but also does not rule one out.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
RELATED: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hits out at hostages’ families for helping Hamas, say reports
L:Relatives and supporters lift placards bearing portraits of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza since October 7, during a rally demanding their release outside Israeli Premier’s private residence in Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, on January 27, 2024. R: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Published January 28, 2024
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu criticized protests by the families of hostages in Gaza.
- He said the protests were helping harden Hamas’ demands, The Jerusalem Post reported.
- Hamas took around 240 hostages during its October 7 attacks on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said protests organized by families of hostages in Gaza were helping Hamas, say reports.
Speaking at a Tel Aviv press conference on Saturday night, Netanyahu criticized the hostage families’ protests.
“I understand that it is impossible to control one’s emotions,” he said. But, the hostages’ protest movement “doesn’t help” and only “hardens Hamas’ demands and delays the results that we all want,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
The hostages’ families hit back in a statement, per The Jerusalem Post. it said the “Prime Minister should remember that he is an elected official whose job it is to correct the mistakes” — a reference to the security failings on October 7 and the terror attacks on Israel by Hamas — “not to scold those whose family members were kidnapped.”
Netanyahu added that the goal of his government was to eliminate Hamas, and the war would not end until the mission was completed.
“There are people among us who doubt our capabilities, but they are a minority,” he added, per a report by Anadolu Agency, the Turkish state news outlet.
He also said that investigations into Hamas’ October 7 attacks “should be opened after the end of the war, not during its peak,” per the report.
Jonathan Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel, previously said the families of those taken captive in Gaza should have been silenced.
“When Israel declared war, the first thing that the government should have done was declare a state of national emergency and told all the hostages: ‘You will keep your mouth shut or we will shut them for you,'” he said.
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SOURCE: www.businessinsider.com
