Netanyahu says he is willing to reach a “partial agreement” with Hamas but not to prevent war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured this Sunday that “the acute phase of the war with Hamas is about to end.” He said this in an interview to the ‘Los Patriotas’ program on the right-wing Channel 14 network, in which he immediately clarified that “this does not mean that the war is about to end” as long as “the goal is to eliminate” Hamas, according to CNN. These statements by Netanyahu come after one of the bloodiest days ever perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, which left at least 150 Palestinians dead in the Strip this weekend.

The Israeli president has explained that he is willing to reach a “partial agreement” with Hamas to return some hostages and that when the “intense phase” of the war in Rafah is over, Israel will be able to deploy more troops to the northern border with Lebanon. “First of all, for security reasons and secondly, also to bring our residents home. If we can do it politically that would be fantastic. If not, we will do it differently, but we will bring everyone back home, all the residents of the north and the south,” he said.

“If there is a deal (to end the war), it will be a deal on our terms,” ​​Netanyahu stressed. “Our conditions are not to end the war, leave Gaza and keep Hamas intact. I refuse to leave Hamas untouched. We need to destroy them,” he reiterated.

Controversy over Netanyahu’s words

Shortly after the broadcast of this interview, the Prime Minister’s Office sent a statement saying that “it is Hamas that opposes the agreement, not Israel,” in the face of criticism for Netanyahu’s statements in which he reproached the Israeli leader for his intention to continue the conflict instead of bowing to achieving a ceasefire. The statement concluded, “The Prime Minister has made it clear that we will not leave Gaza until the return of 120 hostages, alive and dead.”

In response, Hamas published a text insisting that any agreement must include “clear confirmation of a permanent ceasefire and a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip”, which is an “indispensable requirement to stop Netanyahu’s attempts to evade, deceive and continue to attack”. The Islamic organization assured that Netanyahu’s statements are “a clear confirmation of his rejection of the recent Security Council resolution and President Biden’s proposals.” The resolution, approved on June 10, supported the ceasefire proposal of United States President Joe Biden, which Israel and Hamas have been negotiating in recent weeks under the mediation of the United States, Egypt and Qatar. This draft US agreement includes in its first phase a temporary ceasefire, during which there will be a partial exchange of hostages (women, the elderly and the wounded) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

This weekend, thousands of Israelis took to the streets to demonstrate against their government, in one of the largest protests against Netanyahu in the country yet, calling on him to resign and reach a deal with Hamas for the release of hundreds of Israeli hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip.

Since Hamas’ attacks in October, the Israeli army has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures. This weekend alone, Israel has killed at least 150 Palestinians: 48 people were killed in attacks on three residential areas in Gaza City this Saturday, with more than a hundred victims counted since Friday afternoon.