Netanyahu rejects Hamas truce offer
Vows to destroy the Islamist movement
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 7 rejected Hamas’ latest offer for a ceasefire and return of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was still room for negotiation toward an agreement.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, proposed a ceasefire of four months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from Gaza and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.
The Hamas offer, which was first reported by Reuters, was a response to an earlier proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to Hamas last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Calling Hamas’ position “delusional,” Netanyahu renewed a pledge to destroy the Islamist movement, saying there was no alternative for Israel but to bring about its collapse.
“The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas,” he told a press conference, insisting that total victory against Hamas was the only solution to the four-month-old Gaza war.
“Continued military pressure is a necessary condition for the release of the hostages,” Netanyahu said.
But Blinken’s comments, following a meeting with Netanyahu, suggested forging a truce agreement was not a lost cause.
“There are clearly non-starters in what (Hamas has) put forward,” Blinken said at a late-night press conference in a Tel Aviv hotel, without specifying what the non-starters were.“But we also see space in what came back to pursue negotiations, to see if we can get to an agreement. That’s what we intend to do.”
Blinken met the leaders of Qatar and Egypt on Feb. 6 and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Feb. 7.
A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, described Netanyahu’s remarks as “political bravado” that showed the Israeli leader’s intention to further pursue conflict in the region.