Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the terms of a ceasefire in Gaza proposed by Hamas, rebuffing US-led mediation efforts and insisting that Israel's security requires “absolute victory” over the militant group. The Israeli prime minister also confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces had been ordered to begin operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
Speaking at a televised press conference, Netanyahu said victory was “within reach” and that there could be no solution without the military collapse of Hamas. “There will not be a civilian collapse without a military one,” he added. The comments came as a sharp rebuff to the Biden administration and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had earlier suggested that a ceasefire agreement remained possible.
In response, Hamas official Osama Hamdan accused Netanyahu of pursuing “genocide” against Palestinians. The group is set to send a delegation to Cairo for further negotiations within the framework of Egyptian-Qatari efforts. An Egyptian official confirmed that a new round of talks would begin on Thursday aiming to achieve “calm in the Gaza Strip”.
The conflict, the deadliest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, destroyed entire neighbourhoods, displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population, and pushed a quarter of the territory’s residents to starvation. UN officials have warned that an assault on Rafah would lead to a “large-scale loss of life” and risk war crimes.
