By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he will not bow to international pressure to halt war on the Gaza Strip.
“No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel,” Netanyahu said at a government meeting.
“We must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them,” he added.
The Israeli premier said pressure on Israel focuses on calling for holding fresh elections in Israel.
“They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. And they do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months,” he said.
“If we stop the war now before all of its goals are achieved, it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that.”
On Thursday, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Netanyahu’s leadership and called on Israel to hold new elections.
Netanyahu termed Schumer’s comments as “totally inappropriate.”
“You don’t do that to a sister democracy,” he added.
Despite international warnings, Netanyahu on Friday approved military plans for a ground operation in Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people have taken refuge from Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
“We will operate in Rafah. It will take a few weeks, but it will happen,” Netanyahu said.
“Those who say that the operation in Rafah will not happen are the same ones who said that we will not enter Gaza, that we will not operate in Shifa, that we will not operate in Khan Younis and that we will not resume fighting after the [weeklong November] cease-fire,” he added.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 31,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 73,700 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel refuses to halt its war on Gaza until the return of more than 130 hostages held by Hamas since last October, while the Palestinian group demands an end to the Israeli offensive for any hostage deal with Tel Aviv.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Ikram Kouachi