Netanyahu reiterates that "international pressure" will not stop the war in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned this Sunday, before meeting with the war cabinet ahead of a new round of truce negotiations in Gaza, that he is not going to stop the war or call elections despite growing "pressures.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
16 March 2024 Saturday 22:25
10 Reads
Netanyahu reiterates that "international pressure" will not stop the war in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned this Sunday, before meeting with the war cabinet ahead of a new round of truce negotiations in Gaza, that he is not going to stop the war or call elections despite growing "pressures." international".

"There are those in the international community who are trying to stop the war now, before all its objectives are achieved," Netanyahu insisted this Sunday in Tel Aviv, which he said would be tantamount to losing it. The prime minister reiterated his three big goals: eliminate Hamas, free the hostages and ensure that Gaza "no longer represents a threat to Israel," which he said would involve invading Rafah.

"We will operate in Rafah. This is the only way to eliminate the rest of Hamas' murderous battalions and this is the only way to apply the military pressure necessary to free all of our hostages," he said. According to AFP, Netanyahu also expressed that Israel "will not invade Rafah with civilians locked up."

Since the outbreak of war in the Palestinian enclave, Netanyahu has been in conflict with the international community, even with his great ally, the United States, which asks him not to invade Rafah if he cannot guarantee the safety of the 1.4 million people. displaced from the north.

"And to our friends in the international community I say: Do you have such a short memory? Did you so quickly forget October 7, the most terrible massacre committed against Jews since the Holocaust? Are you so quickly willing to deny Israel the right to "defend yourself against the monsters of Hamas?" he reproached them.

Finally, Netanyahu criticized those who, both inside the mass protests and outside his country, are calling for new elections: "They do it because they know that the elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months."

On March 15, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, accused Netanyahu of being the main "obstacle" to achieving peace in the region and called for elections.

"Instead of putting pressure on Israel, which is waging an unjust war against an enemy that could not be more cruel, direct your pressure against Hamas and its patron: Iran. It is they who represent a danger to the region and the entire world," said.