Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that there will be peace in the Gaza Strip only with the destruction of Hamas and the demilitarization of the Palestinian territory, and vowed to intensify the campaign against the Islamic group.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said its staff on Monday visited a hospital in Gaza that was receiving victims of the bombing of a refugee camp, where they heard “Heartbreaking” stories of entire families dying.
Israel’s relentless bombing of Palestinian territory has exacerbated deplorable conditions for civilians in Gaza, and the conflict has exacerbated tensions in the Middle East as pressure grows for a ceasefire.
But Netanyahu promised to stay the course, in an editorial published in the newspaper Monday evening The Wall Street Journal.
“Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized. These are the three requirements for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza,” he wrote.
Demilitarization “will require the creation of a temporary security zone on the perimeter” of the territory, he added.
“For the foreseeable future, Israel will need to retain predominant responsibility for security in Gaza.”
Regarding deradicalization, Netanyahu said that “schools must teach children to value life and not death, and imams must stop preaching the murder of Jews.”
A group of Palestinians wait in Bureij, in the center of the Gaza Strip, after leaving their homes under Israeli bombardment. Photo: REUTERS“We will intensify the fighting”
Netanyahu visited Gaza on Monday and, upon his return to Israel, told a meeting of his right-wing Likud party “we do not stop”.
“We will intensify the fighting in the coming days,” a Likud statement said.
The war erupted when Hamas fighters launched a brutal attack on Israeli territory on October 7, killing around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli data. Among the dead there are more than 300 soldiers.
According to Israel, they also took around 250 hostages.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy the terrorist group and launched a military campaign in the territory, including an intense bombardment which resulted in at least 20,674 deaths, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health.
According to the ministry, four major Israeli attacks since Sunday have killed more than 100 people.
Netanyahu told Likud that he intends to promote the voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians
“Our problem is not knowing whether to authorize the exit, but whether there will be countries willing” to receive them, he added.
Hamas called it an “absurd project”.
The Palestinians “refuse to be deported and displaced. There can be no exile and there is no other option than to remain in our land,” the extremist movement responded in a statement.
In Gaza, the war has caused widespread devastation and its 2.4 million inhabitants suffer from shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to the siege imposed by Israel two days after the Hamas attack.
WHO staff visited a hospital on Monday to treat victims of Sunday’s attack on Al Maghazi refugee camp, where 70 people died, according to the Ministry of Health.
The “team heard heartbreaking stories shared by health workers and victims,” WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“A child lost his entire family in an attack on the camp. A hospital nurse suffered the same loss,” he added.
At Al Aqsa hospital, in central Gaza, there were bodies of the victims of that attack wrapped in white bags before a collective burial.
Destruction and desolation in Bureij, in the center of the Gaza Strip. Photo: REUTERS Zeyad Awad, a resident of Al-Maghazi, said he had received no warning of the bombing, which caused “vast, enormous destruction and panic in the hearts of my children.”
The Israeli military said it was “reviewing the incident” and that it was “committed to respecting international law, including taking feasible measures to minimize harm to civilians.”
Humanitarian crisis
Israel faces growing pressure, including from its allies, to protect civilians in its campaign against Hamas.
From the Vatican, In his Christmas message, Pope Francis denounced “the desperate humanitarian situation” of the Palestinians from Gaza and called for a ceasefire.
Clinging to empty containers, dozens of Gazans waited in the southern city of Rafah for food to be distributed.
“Now there is real hunger. My children are starving,” said Nour Ismail, while waiting.
“A humanitarian truce in Gaza is the only way forward,” said Filippo Grandi, head of the U.N. refugee body.
Netanyahu also faces pressure from those close to him 129 hostages who remain in the hands of Hamas to obtain their release.
Many of them On Monday he was booed when he spoke in a special session of Parliament about the hostages.
Protesters gathered near the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv with banners reading “Release our hostages now, at any cost.”
Fears that the conflict could lead to a regional escalation intensified on Monday when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard accused Israel of killing Razi Moussavi, described as one of the military group’s top advisers, in a bombing raid in Syria.
Likewise, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked merchant ships in the Red Sea, so the United States formed a multinational naval force to protect shipping along that route.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.