Netanyahu: There is no ceasefire without the release of 240 hostages!

2023-11-07 15:16:33Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Netanyahu: There is no ceasefire without the release of 240 hostages!

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an interview with ABC News on the show "World News Tonight", once again rejected the idea of ​​a ceasefire in Gaza if the 240 hostages are not released.

Biden and Netanyahu reached no agreement in a telephone conversation on the need for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war.

"No general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages. In terms of the small pauses we've had before, I think we will control the circumstances to enable humanitarian aid to come in, but I don't think there will be a general ceasefire. I think it will hamper the war effort, it will hamper our efforts to get our hostages out. Because the only thing that is working on these criminals in Hamas is the military pressure that we are applying."

Asked who should govern the territory when the fighting ends, the Israeli prime minister said Israel will have a role to play for an indefinite period and will have overall responsibility for security in Gaza after the war ends. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US would continue to seek a temporary and localized ceasefire while saying support for Israel would continue.

Meanwhile, Gaza was intensively bombarded again by the Israeli army. There were explosions in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and other towns in the south, killing 23 people. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans were displaced after the Israeli army ordered communities in the north to evacuate southwards for their own safety. 

The Palestinian death toll has now surpassed 10,000. Thousands of Palestinians sheltering at Al Shifa Hospital, which houses about 50,000 displaced Palestinians, the largest medical center in the Gaza Strip, have received evacuation orders from Israel. But civilians sheltering in tents on the hospital grounds say they have nowhere else to go and do not plan to leave.

"We are persistent, whatever they do to us, we will not leave Al-Shifa. They cut off water, electricity, food, but now we have nowhere to settle because there are no safe places anywhere. The situation worsens. Bombings increase, more destruction, more dead people."

Meanwhile, another group of foreign nationals will leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing in Egypt. About 600 people with foreign passports from Germany, Romania, France, the Philippines, Ukraine, Canada and Moldova as well as the United Kingdom will leave the country.

Casualties are likely to rise significantly. Ground troops are expected to enter Gaza City soon, and Palestinian militants who have had years to prepare are likely to fight street by street. Meanwhile, deadly Israeli raids continue throughout the West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reports that two people were killed and 12 wounded in the overnight raids. At least 164 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, including four prisoners who died in Israeli custody, while more than 2,200 have been arrested.


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