Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that there can be no permanent ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed, casting doubt on a key part of a proposed truce that US President Joe Biden said Israel did it.
Biden said on Friday (31) that Israel proposed a deal involving an initial six-week truce with a partial Israeli military withdrawal and the release of some hostages, while the two sides negotiated “a permanent end to hostilities.”
However, Netanyahu made clear this Saturday (1) that any notion that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire before “the destruction of Hamas' military and governmental capabilities” is not acceptable.
Peace talks have been running out for months, with Israel demanding the release of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas, while Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of many Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas said on Friday (31) that it was ready to engage “in a positive and constructive way”, but one of the group's senior officials, Mahmoud Mardawi, said in an interview with Qatari television that he had not yet received details of the proposal. .
“No agreement can be reached before the demand for the withdrawal of the occupying army and a ceasefire is met,” he said. Hamas remains committed to the destruction of Israel.
The war began on October 7 when fighters from the Palestinian Islamic group invaded southern Israel from Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli calculations.
Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza has left the territory in ruins, led to widespread famine and killed more than 36,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, who say the majority of those killed are civilians.
Last month, Netanyahu defied calls from world leaders by sending Israeli troops to Rafah, the last place in small, crowded Gaza he had not yet entered, displacing more than a million Palestinians who were sheltering there.
Israel said Rafah, on the border with Egypt, was Hamas' last main stronghold in Gaza and that its campaign to destroy the group could not succeed until it entered the city.
On Wednesday (29), Netanyahu's National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, said he expected the war in Gaza to continue for the rest of 2024 at least.
Source: CNN Brasil
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