Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed that his country’s armed forces will not ceasefire against Hamas militants until they eliminate their enemies.
Benjamin Netanyahu made this known during a press conference held on Saturday afternoon which was televised by Sky News.
The Prime Minister said his country would continue full force against Hamas regardless of several calls for the stoppage of the war by international community.
He said, “To all the families who lost their loved ones in this tough war, we will do everything within our power to be worthy of their sacrifice, to be worthy of their heroism.
“We will not stop until we complete our missions. The war against Hamas is continuing full force with only one goal only, to win. There is no substitute for victory. We are going to eliminate Hamas and we are going to bring our hostages,” he added.
Recall that Benjamin Netanyahu earlier gave a condition for a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza.
He had stated that Israel would not agree to any ceasefire activity in the Gaza war without the return of the hostages.
Netanyahu had said this during a visit to the Ramon Air Force base in southern Israel, as he explained that he was delivering the message both to the country’s allies and enemies.
“I also want you to know that there is one thing that we will not do – there will be no ceasefire without the return of the captives,” Netanyahu told the pilots according to The Jerusalem Post. “The very idea of doing that has to be removed from the conversation,” he added.
“We (are saying) this to both our enemies and our friends. We will continue (the battle) until we have defeated them (our enemy). We have no alternative. I think today everyone understands that” The Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said, Sunday, that at least 9,770 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory since the war with Israel erupted last month.
In the interview aired on Thursday, Netanyahu had said that Israel would need to find a “civilian government” to govern the enclave, which had been run by Hamas since 2006, without specifying who would form such a body.
“We don’t seek to govern Gaza, we don’t seek to occupy it. But we seek to give it and us a better future… and that requires defeating Hamas,” he said. “I’ve set goals, I didn’t set a timetable because it can take more time.”
Netanyahu had said that a “credible force” would be needed to enter Gaza as necessary to “kill the killers” and “prevent the re-emergence of a Hamas-like entity.”
On Tuesday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that President Joe Biden did not believe that reoccupying Gaza would be the “right thing to do”.
US officials have previously suggested that the Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza after the war, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said would only be possible under a political solution that returns territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
