After Offering A Gaza Peace Roadmap, Netanyahu Says The War Will Not End Until Hamas Is Eliminated

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday (May 31) that the Gaza war would not end until the “elimination” of Hamas’s capacity to govern and make war....𝐑̲𝐄̲𝐀̲𝐃̲ 𝐅̲𝐔̲𝐋̲𝐋̲ 𝐀̲𝐑̲𝐓̲𝚰̲𝐂̲𝐋̲𝐄̲ 𝐅̲𝐑̲𝐎̲𝐌̲ 𝐓̲𝐇̲𝐄̲ 𝐒̲𝐎̲𝐔̲𝐑̲𝐂̲𝐄̲➡️➡️➡️

In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said that he “authorised the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving (the return of hostages), while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.”

“The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles,” the statement added. Netanyahu’s remarks came after United States (US) President Joe Biden said that Israel offered a new peace roadmap.

On Friday, US President Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal from Israel to Hamas to end the Gaza war. The offer calls for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Biden said the first phase of Israel’s offer would last for six weeks and would include a “full and complete” ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from “all populated areas” of Gaza, and the “release of a number of hostages including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”

Biden called the second phase “a permanent end to hostilities.” However, he added that the negotiations to arrive at the second phase could take longer than six weeks as there were going to be differences between Israel and Hamas.

In the third and final phase, the US president said that a major “reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who have been killed would be returned to their families.”

On Friday, Hamas said the ceasefire proposal was positive, the news agency AFP reported. Since the war began in October last year, Hamas has been careful about commenting on ceasefire proposals put to it by Egyptian, Qatari, or American mediators.

It accepted one earlier this year only for it to be disavowed by Israel. In a statement, the Palestinian militant group said it “considered positively” Biden’s speech regarding “a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners….CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>