Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel dismissed a Hamas counterproposal for a cease-fire, saying on Wednesday that an Israeli victory in Gaza was “inside attain.”
“There is no such thing as a answer moreover whole victory,” Mr. Netanyahu mentioned throughout a information convention in Jerusalem, shortly after assembly with the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, to debate peace proposals. “If Hamas survives in Gaza, it’s solely a matter of time till the following bloodbath.”
His feedback appeared to dampen the cautious hopes raised on Tuesday, when U.S. and Qatari officers mentioned the Hamas provide mirrored potential progress. However Mr. Netanyahu, a canny negotiator, averted specifics in his information convention, leaving issues considerably murky.
In response to a proposal negotiated by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Hamas submitted a cease-fire proposal that outlined a path to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the discharge of Hamas’s remaining hostages in alternate for a few of hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
With out specifying any particulars of the Hamas proposal, Mr. Netanyahu mentioned “give up to the ludicrous calls for of Hamas” would neither free the greater than 100 hostages nonetheless in Gaza nor restore Israel’s safety.
Requested particularly whether or not Israel had formally rejected the framework, Mr. Netanyahu mentioned: “Primarily based on what they handed to us? From what I’ve seen to this point — you, too, would have mentioned no.”
Hamas’s proposed deal would successfully finish Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza with out toppling the group’s rule there, analysts mentioned. Mr. Netanyahu rejects any postwar association that leaves Hamas in energy, saying that it might permit the group to commit one other assault on Israel much like the Oct. 7 assault that killed roughly 1,200 individuals.
In a information convention in Beirut, Lebanon, a Hamas chief, Osama Hamdan, insisted that the group’s proposal had been honest, known as on the US to assist halt the conflict, and mentioned {that a} delegation from the group’s management would journey to Cairo to pursue talks on the provide.
Mr. Hamdan harassed the urgency of the necessity for the conflict to cease, saying, “No phrases or studies can describe the dimensions of the humanitarian disaster and the horror of the true tragedy left by the occupation within the Gaza Strip.”
Mr. Netanyahu mentioned on Wednesday that Israel’s management had directed the navy to organize to deploy in Rafah, on the southern border of Gaza, an space through which over 1.4 million Palestinians are believed to have crowded, in search of shelter, in accordance with the United Nations. The navy was additionally planning to function in camps within the central Gaza Strip, he added, calling the areas “Hamas’s final remaining strongholds.”
António Guterres, the U.N. secretary common, pronounced himself “particularly alarmed” on Wednesday by studies the Israeli navy supposed to focus subsequent on Rafah, the place displaced Palestinians “have been squeezed in a determined seek for security.”
“Such an motion would exponentially enhance what’s already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional penalties,” mentioned Mr. Guterres, renewing his name for an instantaneous cease-fire and the discharge of hostages held in Gaza.
The Israeli authorities have mentioned 253 Israelis and overseas nationals have been taken hostage on Oct. 7. Greater than 100 have been launched, largely throughout a weeklong cease-fire deal that started final November. Israeli officers say 136 stay in Gaza, together with dozens who’re believed to be lifeless.
Fearing for the remaining hostages after 4 months of warfare, their households have stepped up their requires the federal government to instantly attain a hostage cope with Hamas. Some have begun sleeping in a protest tent close to the prime minister’s Jerusalem residence.
“I handle you, Mr. Netanyahu, all the things is in your palms. You’re the one who can,” mentioned Adina Moshe, 72, an Israeli hostage who was free of Hamas captivity through the weeklong cease-fire. “I’m terribly afraid when you proceed with this line of dismantling Hamas, no hostages will likely be left to launch.”
Mr. Netanyahu mentioned he had informed Mr. Blinken that after Israel toppled Hamas, Israel would “make sure that Gaza will likely be demilitarized perpetually.” Israel would proceed to function in Gaza “in every single place and anytime” with a view to shield its safety, in order “to make sure that terrorism is not going to elevate its head once more,” he added.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
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