JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza without yielding to Hamas’ demands, insisting the military campaign in the Palestinian territory had reached a “critical stage.”
“I believe we can bring our hostages home without surrendering to Hamas’s dictates,” Netanyahu said, in his first comments since Hamas, seeking a permanent end to the Gaza war, rejected a new truce proposal from Israel.
“We are at a critical stage of the campaign, and at this point, we need patience and determination to win.”
The remarks drew a swift rebuttal from an Israeli campaign group representing the hostages’ families, which accused Netanyahu of having “no plan” for securing the captives’ freedom.
“There is one clear, feasible, and urgent solution that can be achieved now: reach a deal that will bring everyone home — even if it means stopping the fighting,” Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
Netanyahu, however, insisted that ending the war now would embolden the country’s enemies.
“Ending the war under these surrender conditions would send a message to all of Israel’s enemies: that abducting Israelis can bring Israel to its knees. It would prove that terrorism pays — and that message would endanger the entire free world,” he said.
Hamas, Netanyahu said, was “demanding the end of the war and the continuation of its rule,” as well as a full Israeli withdrawal, “which would enable Hamas to rearm and plan more attacks against us.”
“If we commit to ending the war, we will not be able to resume fighting in Gaza,” he said.
“So I ask you — did our soldiers fight in vain? Did our heroes fall and suffer for nothing?“
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Israeli PM says to return hostages without giving in to ‘Hamas dictates’
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Israeli PM says to return hostages without giving in to ‘Hamas dictates’
- “I believe we can bring our hostages home without surrendering to Hamas’s dictates,” Netanyahu said
- “We are at a critical stage of the campaign, and at this point, we need patience”
Gaza civil defense says Israeli attacks kill 13 including 5 children
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children, despite a ceasefire that has largely halted the fighting.
Four people, including three children, were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Yunis in the south killed a man, the agency added.
Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks, reported the agency, which operates under Hamas authority.
Later on Thursday evening, four more people were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in an eastern area of Gaza City, Bassal said, adding that rescue work to search for several people who were missing had begun.
“The death toll has risen to 13 as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since this morning in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Bassal said.
In a statement Friday morning, the Israeli military said it “precisely struck Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure in the southern and northern Gaza Strip” in response to a “failed projectile” launch.
“The projectile that was launched from the Gaza Strip constitutes a violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the statement added.
Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that the strikes in Gaza on Thursday “confirm the Israeli occupation’s renunciation of its commitment to the ceasefire.”
Israeli forces have killed at least 425 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
At least 21 people were killed on November 22 in Israeli strikes, making it one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.
The Israeli military said militants have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.
Four people, including three children, were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Yunis in the south killed a man, the agency added.
Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks, reported the agency, which operates under Hamas authority.
Later on Thursday evening, four more people were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in an eastern area of Gaza City, Bassal said, adding that rescue work to search for several people who were missing had begun.
“The death toll has risen to 13 as a result of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since this morning in a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement,” Bassal said.
In a statement Friday morning, the Israeli military said it “precisely struck Hamas terrorists and terror infrastructure in the southern and northern Gaza Strip” in response to a “failed projectile” launch.
“The projectile that was launched from the Gaza Strip constitutes a violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the statement added.
Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that the strikes in Gaza on Thursday “confirm the Israeli occupation’s renunciation of its commitment to the ceasefire.”
Israeli forces have killed at least 425 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
At least 21 people were killed on November 22 in Israeli strikes, making it one of the deadliest days in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect.
The Israeli military said militants have killed three of its soldiers during the same period.
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