Benjamin Netanyahu
Tel Aviv: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today rejected Hamas’ response to a peace proposal moved through the Qatari, American and Egyptian negotiators and instead talked about “total victory” over Hamas. He also called upon the participation of “moderate Arab states” in creating a “different and better future” for Gaza.
In a statement, Netanyahu declared, “Our soldiers are now in Khan Yunis, Hamas’s main stronghold. They’ll soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion.”
He added: “They will do so, as they have done up to now, by providing the civilian population safe passage to safe zones, and they’ll do so in spite of Hamas’ evil attempts to stop the civilians from leaving at gunpoint.”
Offering details, Netanyahu claimed Israeli Defence Forces had so far “shattered” 18 out of 24 Hamas battalions. “Our soldiers are systematically destroying the massive underground terror tunnels. Hamas believed this was an impregnable network. Yet our brave soldiers are now physically inside these tunnels. They’re demolishing rocket factories, weapons stockpiles, command and control centres, and what Hamas thought were unreachable safe houses,” he said.
He asserted: “Total victory over Hamas will not take years. It will take months. Victory is within reach. When people talk about “the day after,” let’s be clear about one thing. It’s the day after all of Hamas is destroyed. Not half of Hamas, not ¾ of Hamas; all of Hamas.”
Netanyahu asked, “Can you imagine what will happen if we don’t have total victory?”, and pointed at Hamas leaders’ “pledge” that they’ll repeat the October 7, 2023 massacre over and over and over again. “No nation can accept that,” he said and added: “Without total victory Iran and its terror proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and others—will be emboldened to subvert moderate states in the Middle East; they’ll threaten the entire free world. Only total victory will prevent that. And total victory is within our reach…We won’t allow Iran’s forces of darkness to win. Our security and the future of the Middle East require total victory,” he said.
Earlier on February 5, 2024, Iranian President Dr Ebrahim Raisi, while speaking in Tehran in a meeting with Ali Al-Sadiq Ali, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sudan, referred to the recent developments in the region, and emphasised that distancing countries from the Zionist regime “is one of the basic policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. He said Israel “can never be a friend of Islamic countries” and that “The neglect of some Islamic countries from this basic policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has caused heavy losses to the Islamic Ummah”.
Also read: Hamas blinks; An end in sight to the war in Gaza?
Netanyahu today said once Hamas is destroyed, Israel will verify that Gaza is demilitarized and that Israeli forces stamped out any attempt at the resurgence of terror. “History has shown that only Israel can do this by having overriding security control over Gaza,” he said. According to him, this would mean that Israel will be in Gaza or act in Gaza at any place and any time that is necessary “to ensure that terror doesn’t rears its ugly head again”.
He stressed Gaza must have a civilian administration staffed with those who do not support terrorism, fund terrorism or indoctrinate their children with terrorism and the goal of destroying Israel.
“In fact, we should seek the very opposite–that school children in Gaza will be educated towards peace, that they’ll be educated towards coexistence,” he said, all those who yearn for peace “should support our quest for total victory. Total victory for our security. Total victory for peace in the region. Total victory to secure our common future”.
Netanyahu also referred to the three goals that he had outlined at the start of the war – destroy Hamas, free the hostages, and ensure that Gaza doesn’t pose a threat to Israel in the future.
“Achieving these goals will ensure Israel’s security and pave the way for additional historic peace agreements with our Arab neighbours. But peace and security require total victory over Hamas. We cannot accept anything else,” he asserted.
“Many argued that Israel’s military campaign would scuttle our ability to release the hostages. They were wrong on this one too. Military pressure led to the release of 110 hostages, and only continued military pressure will bring home the remaining hostages,” he said.
Earlier, the United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken told reporters in Tel Aviv that he discussed with the Israeli Government the response that Hamas sent last night to the proposal that the United States, Qatar, and Egypt had put together to bring the remaining hostages home, and extend the humanitarian pause.
“What I can tell you about these discussions is that while there are some clear nonstarters in Hamas’s response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached. And we will work at that relentlessly until we get there,” he said.
He informed that he had “extensive” discussions with Netanyahu and Israel’s national security leaders on the status of the military campaign to defeat Hamas, and on the progress toward achieving the fundamental objective of ensuring that October 7 never happens again.
He said the US delegation urged Israel to do more to help civilians, “knowing full well that it faces an enemy that would never hold itself to those standards – an enemy that cynically embeds itself among men, women, and children, and fires rockets from hospitals, from schools, from mosques, from residential buildings; an enemy whose leaders surround themselves with hostages; an enemy that has declared publicly its goal: to kill as many innocent civilians as it can, simply because they’re Jews, and to wipe Israel off the map”.
Blinken said, “That’s why we’ve made clear that Israel is fully justified in confronting Hamas and other terrorist organizations. And that’s why the United States has done more than any other country to support Israel’s right to ensure that October 7th never happens again”.
“At the same time, we’re continuing to work closely with Israel and Lebanon on diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions on Israel’s northern border so that families can return to their homes – both in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon – and live in peace and security,” he said.
– global bihari bureau
