Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected Hamas’s demand to end the war in Gaza to reach a ceasefire deal. Netanyahu said Israel was willing to pause fighting in Gaza to secure the release of hostages still being held by the Palestinian group, believed to number more than 130.
“But while Israel has shown willingness, Hamas remains entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel cannot accept this,” he said.
“We are not ready to accept a situation in which the Hamas battalions come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threaten the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu told the cabinet, according to a statement by his office.
“Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which mean surrender, and will continue the fighting until all its goals are achieved,” Netanyahu, repeating a message he has expressed throughout the war. He said accepting Hamas’s demands would only bring the next conflict closer, and would allow Hamas to carry out another massacre in the future.
The Israeli prime minister stresses that Israel is still open to a deal, but Hamas “remains entrenched in its positions.” These remarks come as senior officials from the US, Qatar, and Egypt are in Cairo, along with Hamas officials. The Netanyahu government has decided not to send a delegation at this stage.
In Cairo, Hamas leaders held a second day of truce talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with no apparent progress reported as the group maintained its demand that any agreement must end the war in Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The war began after an assault by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s ensuring military offensive has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled Gaza. The bombardment has devastated much of the coastal enclave and caused a humanitarian crisis.
(With agency inputs)
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