Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday sent out a strong message and said there would be no “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza until the Palestinian militant group Hamas was destroyed.
“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: The destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.
“Israel will continue to insist these conditions are met before a permanent ceasefire is put in place. The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” he added.
Netanyahu made the remark a day after US President Joe Biden said Hamas should accept new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza. He said the time has come to end the war.
The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza, BBC reported.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, Biden was quoted as saying by BBC that the first phase of the proposed plan would include a “full and complete ceasefire”.
“This is truly a decisive moment,” he said. “Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it.”
UN chief welcomes Biden’s proposal
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres said Gaza has witnessed too much suffering and destruction due to the ongoing conflict.
“We have witnessed too much suffering & destruction in Gaza. It’s time to stop,” Antonio Guterres said. “I welcome @POTUS Biden’s initiative & encourage all parties to seize this opportunity for a ceasefire, release of all hostages, guaranteed unhindered humanitarian access & ultimately a durable peace in the Middle East,” he said.
WFP says situation in southern Gaza ‘horrific and apocalpytic’
Aid corridors in southern Gaza must be fully opened to allow the entry of food, fuel and other desperately needed relief items, a senior official with the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Matthew Hollingsworth, WFP Country Director in Palestine, warned that with limited access to the south “we will no doubt see what we saw happen in the north in the first months of the war”.
Hollingsworth recently spent 10 days in Gaza.
Speaking from Jerusalem, he told journalists in New York that people in the enclave “really are at their wits’ end”.