Netanyahu hails US for halting ceasefire resolution

“OOther countries must understand that one cannot, on the one hand, support the elimination of Hamas and, on the other hand, call for an end to the war, which would prevent the elimination of Hamas,” said Netanyahu, a day after the US vetoed a UN resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.

“Therefore, Israel will continue its just war to eliminate Hamas,” said the Israeli prime minister, in a video released by his office, as the 64th day of the military offensive in the Gaza Strip continues.

After a surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, on October 7, which left 1,400 dead and at least 126 hostages, Israel began by launching a ground offensive in the north of the Gaza Strip, which this week expanded to the south and which has already provoked the death of at least 17,700 Palestinians, assuming that thousands are under rubble, according to Gaza authorities.

The Israeli Government says that the offensive aims to dismantle the Islamist group Hamas and eradicate all its power in the Palestinian enclave and, therefore, the head of the Israeli army called for an “increased pressure” in that territory.

The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip is leading to the death and surrender of many Hamas fighters, whose “network is collapsing”, said General Herzi Halevi at a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

“Every day we see more and more terrorists killed, more and more terrorists injured, and in the last few days we see terrorists surrendering. It’s a sign that their network is collapsing, a sign that we need to increase the pressure “, he stated.

Almost 1.9 million people are internally displaced in Gaza – more than 80% of the total population of 2.3 million – and more than a million of them have been evacuated to the south of the territory.

Continuous attacks by Israeli forces on the enclave make it difficult for humanitarian aid to enter and distribute, with daily reports of water and energy shortages and cuts, a situation that UN agencies say is a humanitarian disaster.

The vote on the resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire occurred at the request of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, who used an exceptional mechanism in the founding charter of the United Nations to request the Security Council’s intervention in cases of serious threats. to peace and security in the world.

The United States vetoed the resolution because they argue, like Israel, that the ceasefire would serve Hamas to re-establish itself, cement its power and continue the war in Gaza.

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