No Gaza cease-fire without return of hostages, Israel’s Netanyahu says

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday there will be no cease-fire in the Gaza Strip without the release of hostages held by Hamas.

“I made it clear to the international community: There will be no cease-fire without the return of the hostages. It just won’t happen,” Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting.

“We are determined to achieve total victory in the war, return all our captives, complete the elimination of Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, and to ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” he added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 75,900 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

As the Israeli war marks its six-month anniversary, Netanyahu claimed that the achievements in Gaza as “significant.”

“Israel is not the one preventing a deal. Hamas is preventing a deal,” he said. “Hamas hopes that internal and external pressure will force Israel to capitulate. That won’t happen.”

Hamas, which is believed to be holding nearly 130 Israeli hostages, demands an end to Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip in return for any hostage deal with Tel Aviv.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi