Netanyahu says ‘there will be no civil war’ in Israel amid protests

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that “there will be no civil war” in Israel amid protests demanding his resignation.

“Division is weakness. Unity is strength,'' Netanyahu said at a news conference after a memorial service for soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip.

''We are fighting on several fronts: In the south, until Hamas is eliminated and all of our hostages are returned. In the north, until we restore all of our residents securely to their homes,” he said.

“In the east, we are working to prevent Iran from encircling us in a chokehold and from achieving nuclear weapons that are designed to destroy us.

''But there is one war that cannot be and must not be – there will be no civil war,” said Netanyahu.

Thousands of Israelis have staged protests demanding early elections and a hostage swap with Hamas, which is believed to be holding more than 120 Israeli hostages.

The Palestinian resistance group is demanding an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on Gaza in return for any hostage swap with Tel Aviv.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal onslaught on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,350 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.