Netanyahu says Israel won't accept Gaza peace deal that leaves it
'weak' and vows to allow civilians crammed into Rafah to leave before
launching new offensive on Hamas in another blow to ceasefire hopes
Daily Mail
Mar 17, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel won't accept a Gaza peace deal
that leaves his country 'weak' and 'unable to defend itself' against
hostile neighbours
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel won't accept a Gaza peace deal that leaves his country 'weak' and 'unable to defend itself' against hostile neighbours.
The Israeli
Prime Minister said a potential agreement like that would 'set peace
backwards and not forward' during a joint press appearance with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Jerusalem.
He also reiterated that 'Israel has to have the necessary security responsibility' in Gaza.
This comes as Netanyahu vowed that civilians crammed into Rafah will be allowed to leave before Israel launches a new offensive on Hamas in another blow to ceasefire hopes.
His
comments, alongside visiting Scholz, follow international fears over
the fate of the roughly 1.5 million people who have sought refuge in
Rafah, most of them displaced from Gaza's war.
Smoke and explosions rise inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Sunday, March 17
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu (right), and the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shake
hands after a joint press conference following their meeting in
Jerusalem on March 17
The office of the right-wing premier,
whose security and war cabinets were to discuss the latest international
efforts towards a truce deal, had on Friday said he approved the
military's plan for an operation in Rafah as well as 'the evacuation of
the population'.
'Our goal in
eliminating the remaining terrorist battalions in Rafah goes
hand-in-hand with enabling the civilian population to leave Rafah. It's
not something that we will do while keeping the population locked in
place,' Netanyahu said at a press appearance with Scholz.
As others have done, Scholz raised the question: 'How should more than 1.5 million people be protected? Where should they go?'
The United States - which provides Israel
with billions of dollars in military assistance - has said it wants a
'clear and implementable plan' to ensure civilians are 'out of harm's
way'.
Before meeting Scholz, Netanyahu
told a cabinet meeting that 'no amount of international pressure will
stop us from realising all the goals of the war', and that to do this,
'we will also operate in Rafah'.
Israel
has repeatedly threatened a ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah,
where people shelter in tents crammed up against the Egyptian border.
UN
World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged
against a military operation there, 'in the name of humanity'.
Tedros said 'this humanitarian catastrophe must not be allowed to worsen'.
Netanyahu
leads a coalition of religious and ultra-nationalist parties. His
failure to bring home the hostages taken by Hamas militants during their
attack which started the war has led to mounting protests within his
country as well as domestic calls for early elections.
Hamas's
unprecedented attack from Gaza on October 7 resulted in about 1,160
deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of
official figures.
Vowing to destroy
Hamas, Israel has carried out a relentless bombardment and ground
offensive which has killed at least 31,645 people in Gaza, most of them
women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run
Palestinian territory.
Palestinians, including children,
collect remaining belongings from the rubble of destroyed houses after
Israeli attacks on the house belonging to the Sabit family as Israeli
attacks continue on Gaza Strip on March 17
Smoke rise over the Gaza Strip after an Israel bombardment as seen from a position on the Israeli side of the border on March 17
An Israeli soldier on top a tank on the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Sunday, March 17
International envoys were planning to meet in Qatar soon to revive stalled talks for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Palestinian
militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the
October 7 attack. Dozens were released during a week-long truce in
November, and Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza including 32
presumed dead.
A Hamas proposal calls
for an Israeli withdrawal from 'all cities and populated areas' in Gaza
during a six-week truce and for more humanitarian aid, according to an
official from the Palestinian group.
Israel plans to attend the talks, with
cabinet members due to 'decide on the mandate' of their delegation
before its departure, Netanyahu's office said, without giving a date for
when they would leave.
In Jerusalem,
Scholz called for 'a hostage deal with a longer-lasting ceasefire', and
appealed for a 'negotiated two-state solution' to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
'Terror cannot be defeated with military means alone,' Scholz said.
Netanyahu
has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied the United
States by rejecting calls for a Palestinian state.
The
Israeli prime minister said on Sunday that he would not accept a peace
deal that weakens Israel and leaves it unable to defend itself against
hostile neighbours.
Netanyahu also reiterated his position that 'Israel has to have the necessary security responsibility' in Gaza.
There
was no letup in the fighting, and at least 92 people were killed over
the previous 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday.
The dead included 12 members of the same family whose house was hit in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Palestinian
girl Leen Thabit, retrieving a white dress from under the rubble of
their flattened house, cried as she said her cousin was killed in the
strike.
'She's dead. Only her dress is left,' Thabit said. 'What do they want from us?'
People walk past destroyed buildings in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on March 15
Smoke billows from the area of an
Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin near
the border with Israel on March 16
A view of the area after Israeli attack over an apartment building in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on March 16
Shelling
and clashes were reported in south Gaza's main city of Khan Yunis as
well as elsewhere, and the Israeli army said its forces had killed
'approximately 18 terrorists' in central Gaza since Saturday.
More
than five months of war and an Israeli siege have led to dire
humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the United Nations has repeatedly
warned of looming famine for the coastal territory's 2.4 million
people.
Humanitarians have cited
Israeli restrictions as among the obstacles they face in reaching the
needy. Israel has blamed shortages on the Palestinian side, specifically
a lack of capacity to distribute aid once it gets in.
Facing difficulty on the ground, donors have turned to the air and sea.
A
second ship was due to depart from Cyprus along a new maritime corridor
to bring food and relief goods, officials of the Mediterranean nation
said.
Jordan on Sunday announced the
latest aid airdrop over northern Gaza together with aircraft from the
United States, Egypt and Germany - which announced Saturday it had
parachuted aid into Gaza for the first time.
In Rafah, the situation has only grown worse, said medical staff at a clinic run by Palestinian volunteers.
Samar
Gregea, a physician herself uprooted from Gaza City in the north, said
medicine is in short supply, and 'all children' are suffering from
malnutrition, with a spike in hepatitis A cases.
'Children require foods high in sugars, like dates, which are currently unavailable,' Gregea said.