Netanyahu rejects Hamas’ conditions for hostage release
Israeli prime minister’s refusal ‘means there is no chance for the return of Israeli captives’, says Hamas
Jerusalem — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected conditions presented by Hamas to end the war and release hostages that would include Israel’s complete withdrawal and leaving Hamas in power in Gaza.
As Israeli fighter jets resumed bombing Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the Israeli leader’s refusal to end the military offensive in Gaza “means there is no chance for the return of the (Israeli) captives.”
“In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “And leaving Hamas intact.”
“I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
A deal brokered in late November by the US, Qatar and Egypt saw the release of more than 100 of the estimated 240 hostages who were taken captive to Gaza during an attack by Hamas militants on October 7, in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Since that deal ended Netanyahu has faced mounting pressure to secure the release the 136 hostages who remain in captivity.
Netanyahu also took a stronger line on the issue of Palestinian statehood than previously.
“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control of all territory west of the Jordan River,” he said.
US President Joe Biden on Friday said he spoke with Netanyahu about possible solutions for creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarised government.
Netanyahu appeared on Saturday to push back against Biden’s remarks about Palestinian statehood after the war against Hamas in Gaza ends as the two men do not see eye-to-eye on Palestinians having a state, a solution Biden has advocated to achieve long-term peace.
In the statement on Sunday, Netanyahu repeated that he would insist upon “full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan”.
Netanyahu said that he faced down “international and internal pressures,” to change this position.
“My insistence is what prevented for years the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have posed an existential danger to Israel,” Netanyahu said.
The toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since war broke out in October has passed 25,000, Gaza health officials said.
Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed in several places, from Jabalia in the north to Khan Younis in the south, the focus of recent Israeli operations. Israel said its troops had cleared much of northern Gaza of Hamas’ military network.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister told CNN in an interview on Sunday there can be no normalisation of ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue.
Asked if there could be no normal ties without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said: “That’s the only way we’re going to get the benefit. So, yes, because we need stability and only stability will come through the resolving the Palestinian issue.”
The foreign minister’s remarks were part of an interview originally taped on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held last week in Davos, Switzerland, and aired Sunday.
Reuters