Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leader of the Likud party. Picture: EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)
Israel’s war in Gaza is set to continue after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed Hamas’s demand for a ceasefire going against the hopes by the US for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Netanyahu told a televised briefing that he had ordered troops to “prepare to operate” in Rafah in Gaza’s far south, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge.
He claimed that a “total victory” by Israel over Hamas was just months away warning that accepting Hamas’ “bizarre demands” for a ceasefire would not lead to the return of hostages.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Tel Aviv hours after meeting Netanyahu, said he still saw “space for agreement to be reached” and that he had warned the Israeli leader against actions and talk that “inflame tensions”.
One of the hostages released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal brokered in November also put pressure on Netanyahu, according to AFP.
“Everything is in your hands,” Adina Moshe told a news conference in Tel Aviv, addressing the Israeli leader.
“You’re the one. And I’m very afraid and very concerned that if you continue with this line of destroying Hamas, there won’t be any hostages left to release,” she said.
Last week, a Hamas source said the proposed new truce calls for a six-week pause to fighting and a hostage-prisoner exchange, as well as more aid for Gaza, but negotiations have continued since.
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Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said US pressure seems to have failed to dissuade Netanyahu.
“The Biden administration has perhaps concluded that this war has run its course, that the Netanyahu government has had four months to finish the job, but it did not finish the job. In fact Hamas is strong in Gaza, its in fact spilling everywhere in the northern part of Gaza.
“Gaza is destroyed, but Hamas is alive and well,” Bishara said.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the world is entering “an age of chaos” with a deeply divided Security Council unable to address critical issues such as the Israel-Gaza war.
“It is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages,” Guterres said during a speech to the General Assembly presenting his 2024 priorities.
Guterres said he was “especially alarmed” after Israel said it intends to focus its military assault in Gaza on the southern city of Rafah.
“Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences.”
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