“Will not happen”. Netanyahu rejects ceasefire with Hamas

“OCalls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas. This will not happen,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv, urging the international community to join his country in demanding the “immediate and unconditional” release of hostages held by Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.

The head of the Government justified that, “just as the United States would not have accepted a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor [pelo Japão, na II Guerra Mundial}, ou após o ataque terrorista de 11 de setembro [da al-Qaida em 2001]Israel will not accept the cessation of hostilities with Hamas following the horrific attacks of October 7th”, in which more than 1,400 people died and 239 were kidnapped.

“Israel is being asked to surrender to Hamas, to terrorism and to surrender to barbarism, and that will not happen”, stressed the Israeli prime minister.

In a speech before press questions, Netanyahu stated that “the Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war and this is a time of war, a war for a common future.”

“Today we draw a line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism. It is time for everyone to decide where they stand and for civilized nations around the world to support this fight. Because Israel’s fight is your fight”, he declared, adding emphatically: “Israel’s victory will be your victory. But make no mistake: regardless of who supports Israel, Israel will fight until it wins this battle and Israel will win.”

Regarding the issue of the people Hamas is holding captive in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said that “all civilized nations must support Israel and demand that these hostages be released immediately and unconditionally.”

“Hamas is also completely and despicably preventing foreign citizens from leaving Gaza, Hamas is holding more than 200 Israeli hostages, including 33 children, terrorizing them, Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also mentioned again that Israel has urged Palestinian civilians to leave the areas where fighting is taking place – specifically the north of the enclave and Gaza City – and move south, but, he continued, “Hamas is stop this at gunpoint.”

“We are going to consign Hamas to the dustbin of history, that is my goal and my responsibility and it is something that I think unites the whole country,” said Netanyahu in response to a question about the loss of support he is facing in internal public opinion.

“We all support the soldiers and we support our commanders,” he commented.

Since the start of the war on the 7th, Israeli bombings in Gaza have caused more than 5,300 deaths and more than 21,000 injuries, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

In this sense, Netanyahu stated that the Israeli Army wants to minimize the number of victims among the civilian population as much as possible, but at the same time he stressed that the fight cannot and should not be abandoned.

“We have to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties, but we cannot abandon the fight. Because then, I think, this will have disastrous consequences not only for the future of my country, but for the future of your countries, as this It is a battle of civilization against barbarians,” Netanyahu responded to a foreign journalist who asked him about the victims among the territory’s population.

The Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen, taking more than two hundred hostages.

In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and which is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group’s infrastructures in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege on the territory with a cut of supply of water, fuel and electricity.

The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries, among military personnel and civilians, in both territories.

[Notícia atualizada às 19h08]

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