Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this Sunday rejected the conditions imposed by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas to release the hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip, which include the end of hostilities and the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian enclave. “I categorically reject the surrender conditions of the Hamas monsters,” Netanyahu said in a video message released by his office, in an apparent response to reports of a new proposed deal brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
According to Netanyahu, in exchange for the release of all hostages, the Islamic group demanded “the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all murderers and rapists from the Nuhkba (an elite force of the movement's military wing) and leave Hamas intact.” “If we accept this, our warriors will have fallen in vain and we will not be able to guarantee the safety of our citizens”, added the prime minister, increasingly cornered by popular pressure, especially from families, to negotiate the release of everyone at any price. the hostages.
Netanyahu assured that “military pressure is the only solution” to return the hundreds of thousands of evacuees from the communities surrounding Gaza to their homes and to ensure that there is no repeat of another October 7, in a reference to the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli soil. which ended with more than 1,200 dead and 240 kidnapped. “I am not willing to endure such fatal damage to Israel's security, so we will not accept it. The conditions imposed by Hamas illustrate a simple truth: there is no substitute for victory,” he highlighted.
Qatar and Egypt plan envisages ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal and return of hostages
The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal published exclusively today that Qatar and Egypt presented Israel and Hamas with a three-phase ceasefire proposal, which would last around 90 days, to put a definitive end to the conflict. The plan proposes a lasting ceasefire during which Hamas would release all civilian hostages, while Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, withdraw from Gaza cities, allow freedom of movement in the enclave, cease the use of drones and double the amount of aid allowed. In a second phase, Hamas would release the female soldiers and the bodies of the hostages – around 27, compared to the approximately 110 hostages who remained alive inside the Strip – and Israel would release more prisoners; In the third phase, Israel would withdraw its troops to the Gaza border and the Islamic group would finish releasing all hostage soldiers and men of combat age.
Once this initial plan is completed in 90 days, Qatar and Egypt's proposal envisages a total cessation of hostilities, normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia and a peace process that leads to the creation of a Palestinian state. “My insistence was what prevented for years the establishment of a Palestinian State that would represent an existential danger to Israel. As long as I am prime minister, I will continue to firmly defend this,” Netanyahu highlighted about this possibility.
The prime minister also stressed that, after the war, “Gaza must be demilitarized and come under full Israeli security control”, something he has repeated on numerous occasions, but which does not please his partners in the international community, including the United States. , who prefer ceding control to the Palestinian National Authority. “After we achieve complete victory and eliminate Hamas, there will be no factor in Gaza that finances terrorism,” said Netanyahu, in a message he said he reiterated to US President Joe Biden in a telephone conversation at the end of week.
Regarding the kidnapped people, Netanyahu stated that he works 24 hours a day to return them home and that this is one of the main objectives of the war, along with the total elimination of Hamas; Families have already called for new protests this evening in front of the prime minister's residence.
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