Benjamin Netanyahu He insisted that the demands of Hamas The liberation of the hostages was “hallucinatory”. “Hamas’ demands are hallucinatory… and we cannot accept that. But if Hamas drops these hallucinatory demands, we will be able to move forward,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
The political leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Ismael Haniyestressed hours earlier that he would not accept an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners unless the Israeli army stops its offensive and withdraws from Gaza, blaming Israel for the stagnation in talks between the two parties.
“The Endurance will not accept anything that does not include the complete cessation of aggression, the withdrawal of the occupying army from the Gaza Strip, as well as the “lifting of the oppressive siege and the provision of safe and adequate shelter for the displaced and homeless,” Haniye said in a statement Statement in which he also demanded this Release of Palestinian prisoners.
In his speech today Netanyahu He repeated one of his mantras since the beginning of the war: “The essence of our policy to free the hostages is strong military pressure and very tough negotiations. In this way we have freed 112 hostages and we will continue to do so until we have released them all.” This negotiation forces us to take a step forward.
Referring to increasing international pressure on the Israeli army not to launch a ground operation in Rafah, home to 1.4 million people, mostly displaced people, Netanyahu said that abandoning such an operation would mean losing the war.
“Yesterday I spoke again with the President of the United States, Joe Biden. I speak to world leaders every day. I tell you with determination: Israel will fight until it achieves complete victory. Yes, of course this also includes the operation in Rafah, after civilians in combat zones have been allowed to move to safer areas. Anyone who wants to stop us from acting in Rafah is essentially telling us: “You will lose the war.” “I will not allow that,” he said.
In this sense, he argued that both Israel’s military ability to invade this population and to evacuate its population was “very realistic.”
“There’s a lot of space and space north of there Rafah“, said the Prime Minister.
On the other hand, regarding the situation in which the Gaza Strip After the war and the increasingly loud voices calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state, Netanyahu once again showed his rejection of this option.
“We will not bow to international dictates on the question of a future agreement with the Palestinians (…) The agreement will only be reached through direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions. “Israel under my leadership will continue to firmly oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
For Netanyahu this is Recognition of a Palestinian state after the Hamas attack on October 7, in which 1,200 people died, would be the “greatest reward for terror, which is unprecedented and will prevent any future peace agreement.”
Israel has killed more than 28,850 people in Gaza in 134 days of war. “The diplomatic campaign that I am leading with my colleagues has allowed us to operate with complete military freedom of action for five months, which was not the case in Israel’s past wars,” the prime minister said.