Netanyahu (left) and Gallant reiterated that Hamas will not rule Gaza after the war (French)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will not withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip, while his Defense Minister Yoav Galant confirmed that the Israeli army will rule the Strip militarily after the war.
Netanyahu confirmed, in statements broadcast on Israeli television, that Israel would not withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip or release thousands of Palestinian prisoners whom he described as “terrorists.”
Netanyahu added that his government will not end this war without achieving all its goals, which are eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), returning all detainees, and ensuring that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel anymore, as he put it.
He pointed out that "he hears statements about all kinds of deals, so I want to make clear: We will not end this war with less than achieving all its goals and without absolute victory."
The Israeli Mini-Ministerial Council for Security and Political Affairs (Cabinet) is scheduled to hold a session the day after tomorrow, Thursday, to discuss a proposal for a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
For his part, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, said that any illegal deal would lead to the dissolution of the government, as he put it.
Channel 12 also reported that the far-right Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that what is being circulated about stopping the war is a loss of what he called the achievements achieved by the soldiers of the Israeli army with their blood, according to his description.
Smotrich said that this bad deal, as he described it, would allow Hamas to regain control of the region, stressing that he would not accept that.
Military rule
In the same context, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant as saying that Israel will rule the Gaza Strip militarily and not civilianly after the war, stressing that Hamas will not rule Gaza after the war, as he put it.
Galant said before the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in the Knesset, “Israel has two goals in the Gaza Strip and an important condition for achieving them. The two goals are the elimination of Hamas as a military and governmental organization, and the return of the kidnapped people to their homes.”
He stressed that the only condition for achieving this is unity at the national level, adding that if we are not united, the only party that will benefit is Hamas.
Earlier today, the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, announced that his movement had received the proposal that was circulated at the Paris meeting on Sunday, as part of efforts to stop the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and complete a prisoner exchange agreement.
Haniyeh added that Hamas' response to the proposal will be based on the priority being stopping the brutal aggression against Gaza and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Strip.
On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced, during an interview with MSNBC, that negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement to release Israeli prisoners detained in the Gaza Strip led to “a framework that could lead to an agreement.” ultimate".
Tel Aviv estimates that there are about 136 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while it holds at least 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources from both parties.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which, as of Tuesday, left 26,751 martyrs and 65,636 injured, most of them children and women, according to the Palestinian authorities, and caused massive destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to the United Nations. United.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies