Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted this Saturday on the “destruction” of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas as an essential part of the Israeli plan, presented this Friday by US President Joe Biden, to end the Gaza war.
(You can read: One by one: we explain how the three phases of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas presented by the United States would work)
“According to the proposal, Israel will continue to insist that these conditions be met before a permanent ceasefire is established“he added.
Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, the release of all hostages and the guarantee that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
Joe Biden announced this Friday Israel proposed a new roadmap towards a complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
(You may be interested: The United States announces that Israel offered a new agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza: what is known so far?)
The American president explained that The three-stage Israeli offer would begin with a six-week phase in which Israeli forces would withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.
The third part of the plan includes the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and homes destroyed by the war.
Photo:
Next, Israel and the Palestinians would negotiate a lasting ceasefire during those six weeks, but the truce would continue as long as the talks continued.explained the American president.
(You can read: Israel orders the UN Palestinian refugee agency to vacate its headquarters in Jerusalem within 30 days)
After the announcement, Hamas said that it views “positively” the truce proposal announced by Biden in terms of a “definitive ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction of Gaza and the exchange of prisoners”, and He assured that he was willing to constructively deal with any plan that includes these points..
The Palestinian group has been insisting for days that it is prepared to reach an agreement to release the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as long as Israel ends the war in Gaza, where more than 36,200 people have already died, according to medical sources that depend on Hamas.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, at a press conference at the White House.
Photo:
According to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the proposal is “realistic.” And the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, assured that “it offers a ray of hope and possibly a way out to unblock the conflict.”
(Also: Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again leads polls as the preferred candidate to govern)
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have been advancing towards the center of Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip that has become the epicenter of the conflict.
This Saturday, residents reported gunshots from tanks in the Tal Al Sultan neighborhoodin the west of the city, while witnesses in the east and center of Rafah described intense artillery shelling.
Tens of thousands of people are trying to leave Rafah to flee the conflict.
Photo:
(Also read: Israel Army announces that it took ‘operational control’ of the corridor that separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt)
Before the start of the Israeli operation in the city, The UN estimated that 1.4 million people were taking refuge there from bombings in other areas of the Palestinian territory. One million have fled since then, according to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
The ground deployment in Rafah allowed Israel to take control of the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-kilometer strip along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
#Israel #Benjamin #Netanyahu #insists #permanent #ceasefire #Hamas #eliminated
