Smoke billows during an Israeli bombardment of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Published February 8, 2024
Speaking to reporters, Netanyahu insisted that there was no alternative to “complete victory” over Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s hawkish response came hours after he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and is a blow to the intensifying efforts aimed at securing a breakthrough in the conflict. But the Israeli leader notably did not suggest that Israel would abandon the ongoing discussions mediated by regional powers including Qatar and Egypt, and Blinken said later that there was still a path to a deal.
The Hamas proposal envisaged a three-stage process over four-and-a-half months, during which Israeli troops would gradually withdraw from the enclave, hostages would be released and Palestinian prisoners in Israel would be freed, according to a copy of the group’s counteroffer obtained by CNN.
But Netanyahu repudiated the proposal. “We haven’t committed to any of the delusional demands of Hamas,” he said. “There is not a commitment – there has to be a negotiation, it’s a process, and at the moment, from what I see from Hamas, it’s not happening.”
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SOURCE: www.amp.cnn.com
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Published February 8, 2024
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SOURCE: www.reuters.com
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference in Jerusalem, February 7, 2024. (Sam Sokol / Times of Israel)
Published February 7, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s “delusional” conditions for a new hostage deal on Wednesday, arguing that only military pressure will secure the release of the Israelis being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking with reporters during a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu insisted that he had made no specific promises regarding the release of Palestinian security prisoners with blood on their hands, or any ratio for Palestinian prisoners to be freed in return for hostages in a potential deal, declaring that Israel “has not committed to anything.”
“There is supposed to be some kind of negotiation via the intermediaries. But right now, given what I see from the response by Hamas [to the Israel-backed framework for talks on a deal], they’re not there,” he said.
“Surrender to Hamas’s delusional demands, that we’ve just heard, not only would not bring about the freedom of the hostages, but it would only invite an additional slaughter; it would invite disaster for Israel that no Israeli citizens want,” he said.
