News - Netanyahu rejects calls for humanitarian pause in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza. Asked if Israel would consider a longer pause in hostilities to evacuate more civilians, Netanyahu replied it is not a pause. He added that if it is about a cessation of hostilities, that is what Hamas wants, as it wants an endless series of pauses, which essentially cancel the fight against it. In the CNN interview, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire in the entire territory until the Israeli hostages are released. Also, he presented Israel's main goals in Gaza. First, to destroy Hamas so that it can no longer carry out attacks like on October 7. Second, to deploy a major and extremely large Israeli military package to ensure that terrorism does not resume in Gaza after the war. Third, ensure the agreement of any civilian authority to demilitarize and de-radicalize the enclave that will take control of Gaza. Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian Authority, which previously controlled Gaza and is based in the occupied West Bank, for failing on two counts, apparently ruling out a post-war role for that authority in Gaza. The Israeli PM noted that the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza is used as a command center of Hamas, and said that Israel is helping the patients by creating safe corridors for evacuation. Netanyahu said that the death toll among the civilian population of Gaza is decreasing due to Israel's calls to move south. More than 10,000 people have been killed so far in Gaza since the start of Israel's military offensive. Benjamin Netanyahu did not accept accusations that Israel violates international law in the war.