Hamas considered “globally negative” Israel’s response to its latest proposal for a truce in the Gaza war, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic movement in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, explained in a press conference on Wednesday.
“The mediators (in Qatar) communicated to us on Tuesday evening the position” of Israel, which is “overall negative and constitutes a setback” regarding the previous position, Hamdan said.
Hamas proposes a six-week truce and the exchange of the 42 hostages kidnapped since October 7 with Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Already days ago, when the Hamas proposal was released, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that he had received a “global vision of a truce agreement”, but reiterated that the group’s demands are once again “unrealistic”.
Invade Rafah
Israel, in fact, does not give up launching an offensive against the southern city of Gaza, on the border with Egypt, Rafah, where 1.7 million Palestinians displaced by the war and who have nowhere to flee are crowded together.
Netanyahu insisted this Wednesday on his goal to invade Rafah despite US reluctance, despite having made it clear that Preparations will “take time”.
“I once told President Biden that Hamas could not be defeated without the Israel Defense Forces entering the Gaza Strip. In our last conversation I told him that it is impossible to complete the victory without the IDF entering Rafah to eliminate the rest of the Hamas battalions,” he said.
Netanyahu sent a video message to Israeli citizens on Thursday to “update” them on his conversation with US President Joe Biden last Monday, in which they discussed the Rafah offensive, which the US opposes and considered a “red line”.
“From the beginning we agreed that Hamas should be eliminated. But during the war, it’s no secret, we had differences of opinion on the best way to achieve this,” the prime minister said.
Netanyahu noted that he has already given green light to the Army’s military plan for the offensive inside Rafahwhere there are 1.4 million displaced people – more than half the population of the enclave – and which will soon approve the plan for the evacuation of civilians from the combat zones.
“President Biden, whose support I appreciate, has asked us to present his proposals both in the humanitarian field and on other issues,” Netanyahu said, referring to the sending of a government delegation to Washington in the coming days to address these issues with the US government and agree on strategies.
The prime minister has chosen two of his closest allies: the minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer; and National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi; while the head of Defense, Yoav Gallant, announced today that next week he will travel to Washington to meet his counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
“As we prepare to enter Rafah, which will take some time, we continue to operate with all our strength in Khan Yunis and the refugee camps in the centers, as well as eliminating and capturing senior Hamas officials as we have done now in Shifa hospital, where we eliminated hundreds of terrorists,” he added.
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.