There will be no ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas’s proposal to end hostilities in an enclave where more than 27,000 people have died since October 7 last year, according to updated Gaza Health Ministry counts.
Netanyahu has assured that he will not stop the military operation in Gaza until he achieves a “total victory” over Hamas. A premise that includes dismantling the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization and the extensive tunnel network in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s statements at a press conference coincided with the presence of Antony Blinken in Israel. The United States Secretary of State made a new official visit to pressure the Hebrew government to accept the ceasefire proposal put forward by Hamas, but to no avail.
The draft called for a new hostage exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the reconstruction of the battered Gaza Strip within a 45-day ceasefire period. However, Netanyahu has flatly rejected these conditions and tried to convey to the head of American diplomacy that the defeat of Hamas would be “the victory of the entire free world.”
However, the veteran prime minister has reiterated his intention to prolong the war for several months. He believes that “capitulating to the insane demands of Hamas that we have just heard would not only not lead to the release of the hostages, but would only lead to more massacres; “It would lead to a catastrophe for Israel that no Israeli citizen wants.”
“Victory is within reach,” he assured during his appearance and shortly beforehand in his conversation with Blinken. Netanyahu thinks of no other alternative than “total victory,” the goal with which he launched the military operation in Gaza in response to the Hamas massacre on Israeli soil that left nearly 1,200 people dead.
Netanyahu also said that he would only be content with crushing Hamas, rescuing the hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel by demilitarizing the enclave “forever,” because if Hamas survived, “it will only be a matter of time before…” The next massacre takes place).
The prime minister had time to review the Israeli army’s “unprecedented” successes in its offensive against Hamas. He boasted that his forces had killed or wounded about 20,000 fighters from an Islamist group. However, senior Hamas leaders remain alive and the underground lines used by their militants remain operational.
The next point the Israel Defense Forces is targeting after Khan Younis is Rafah, the city closest to the border with Egypt and which Netanyahu described as “Hamas’ main stronghold.” Israel’s political and military leadership had said the same thing months ago about Gaza City and later about Khan Yunis.