(CNN)– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he “will not accept the terms of surrender” set by Hamas in exchange for the release of the hostages..
Netanyahu said, in a statement, that “Israel continues to work to release the rest of the hostages, and to exert military pressure on Hamas.” He added: “I am working on this around the clock, but to be clear: I categorically reject the conditions for the surrender of Hamas’ monsters.”
He stated that “Hamas demands, in exchange for the release of the hostages, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all murderers and rapists,” according to his description of the Palestinians whom Hamas wants to be released from Israeli prisons.
He said: “If we agree to this, our soldiers will have fallen in vain and we will not be able to guarantee the security of our citizens,” and added: “I am not prepared to bear such deadly damage to Israel’s security, so we will not agree to it.”
Netanyahu’s statements come after the Wall Street Journal published a report stating that the United States, Egypt and Qatar want Israel to join a new phase of talks with Hamas that begins with the release of the hostages and leads to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu said that he conveyed these points to US President Joe Biden over the weekend, and added: “I assured President Biden of our determination to complete all the goals of the war, and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
He also repeated his statements he made last week regarding Israel’s control over all the lands west of Jordan, and said: “Gaza must be demilitarized, under the full security control of the State of Israel, and I will not give up full Israeli security control over all the lands west of Jordan.”
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2024-01-21 20:59:45
