Mr. Netanyahu announced that he will only withdraw troops from Gaza when Israel has achieved complete victory.
(Baonghean.vn) - Commenting on information related to negotiations under an agreement with Hamas to release hostages on January 30, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the possibility of withdrawing troops from the Gaza Strip until all goals have been achieved and a complete victory has been achieved...
"I'm hearing statements about various agreements, so I want to be clear: we will not end this war until all of our objectives have been achieved. That means eliminating Hamas, returning all the kidnapped people and ensuring that Gaza is no longer a threat to Israel. We will not withdraw from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists. There will be no such thing," Prime Minister Netanyahu declared.
The current hostilities in Gaza are "not another attack, not another operation," the Israeli prime minister said. Netanyahu said the war would end with Israel's "complete victory" over Palestinian extremists. "Nothing less than that," Netanyahu said. "I am committed to achieving that goal, our fighters are committed to it, and the vast majority of our people are committed to it. We will accept only complete victory."
Earlier, CNN quoted a source as saying that the Egyptian intelligence agency was said to have presented a tentative proposal to Hamas on releasing the hostages, which was reached at a meeting in Paris on January 28 between intelligence chiefs from Egypt, Israel, the US and the Prime Minister of Qatar.
While negotiators have reached a general consensus, agreeing on the specifics of the deal could be difficult, CNN reported. According to the tentative agreement, the first phase of the hostage exchange would include a six-week pause in hostilities. For every civilian held by Hamas, three Palestinians held in Israeli jails would be exchanged. The ratio could be increased for exchanges of Israeli soldiers, and a six-week ceasefire could be followed by a longer pause.
Sky News Arabia reported that the deal between Hamas and Israel could include a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan, a holy month in Islam. In 2024, this month falls between March 11 and April 9. Israel has not officially commented on the reports.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said the country does not want a wider conflict in the Middle East. “I don’t think we need a large-scale war in the Middle East, that’s not what I’m looking for,” Biden told reporters on January 30.
The White House has pledged to respond to attacks on US military personnel in the Middle East. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that the response could be “multi-level, phased, and sustained over time”./.
