Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals because he says Hamas’s call for a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza and an end to the war is unacceptable.
Mr Netanyahu said agreeing such proposals would “leave Hamas intact” and leave the possibility of another attack in future.”Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,” he said in a video statement.
Mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but a deal appears some way off. Mr Netanyahu said Hamas was “entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power”. He said it would allow more “massacres, rapes and kidnapping”. Hamas said in a statement it was “still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”. The group’s Ismail Haniyeh, blamed Mr Netanyahu of “sabotaging the efforts made through the mediators”. The proposal put to Hamas had set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange. There was a brief ceasefire and prisoner and hostage swap last year, but it did not turn into a longer-term truce. Intense pressure is on Israel’s government domestically to achieve a deal and get more hostages released, with families holding regular vigils and campaigning. Mr Netanyahu also said on Sunday his cabinet had voted to close the local office of Qatar’s state-owned news broadcaster Al Jazeera. Israel claims the channel has collaborated with Hamas.”Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Mr Netanyahu said. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”The channel called the claims a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that threatens its reporters’ safety and said it would pursue “every legal step”. “The background of this (shutdown) decision is not professional or journalistic… it’s political,” said Waleed Omari, bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It comes after a law was passed last month allowing Israel to act against foreign channels that “harm” the country. It’s understood it allows for an initial 45-day closure which could then be renewed…… NN: What a bullshit deal. They need to go into Rafah and kill the tunnel rats and then apologize. And send lots of aid trucks.