Netanyahu: No ceasefire
–Daily Mail
ISRAEL - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu has vowed ‘there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages’ in an address marking six months since the conflict in Gaza began as delegations meet in Cairo to discuss possible peace terms.
‘‘We are one step away from victory. But the price we paid is painful and heartbreaking,’’ he said in a Cabinet address yesterday. But the prime minister reiterated that the beleaguered Gaza Strip cannot expect an end to the conflict without the return of captives held since October 7.
‘It just won’t happen,’ he said resolutely, adding that while ‘Israel is ready for a deal’, ‘Israel is not ready to surrender’. It came as Israel announced it had withdrawn all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip in order to ‘recuperate and prepare for future operations’.
‘Today, (yesterday), the IDF’s 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Yunis,’ a military Spokesperson said yesterday.
Asked whether this meant all troops have left south Gaza, an army official confirmed: ‘Yes.’
It was unclear whether the withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Israeli leaders have said is needed to eliminate Hamas.
The announcement coincides with the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ brutal October 7 incursion into Israel, killing some 1 170 people and taking 254 hostage, according to Israeli figures.
ISRAEL - Grieving family members of the victims of Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel visited a memorial site yesterday to mark the six-month anniversary of the war.
Bereaved relatives were seen at the space set up in tribute, since planted with flowers and marked with photos of those who lost their lives at the Nova festival.
Killed
Some 1 170 people were killed in attacks last year after Hamas launched a surprise incursion across the border, targeting civilian settlements and a peace festival near Re’im before taking a further 254 people into Gaza as hostages.
Shared
Survivors have shared how they desperately tried to hide as gunmen stormed the event at dawn and started shooting civilians indiscriminately, with scores of missiles falling down on Israel around them.
But six months on, Israel now risks losing support from its closest allies, with its subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip drawing condemnation at home and abroad over huge civilian casualties and the deaths of seven aid workers last week.
As delegations meet in Cairo to resume uneasy ceasefire talks, the war continues to evolve as its victims pray for a peaceful resolution, Israel yesterday announced the shock tactical retreat of troops in southern Gaza to ‘prepare for future operations’.
The horror attack on October 7 resulted in the death of 1 170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.