Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals between Israel and Hamas amid mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting.
About the Peace Proposal
The proposal will be made in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but as it is, a deal appears some way off.
Mr. Benjamin says it would allow Gaza group to rebuild and possibly launch another attack in future.
Mr Netanyahu said agreeing such proposals would ‘leave Hamas intact’ and leave the possibility of another attack in future.
‘Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,’ he said in a video statement.
Why Israel Is Saying No
Mr Netanyahu said Hamas was ‘entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power’.
He said it would allow more ‘massacres, rapes and kidnapping‘.
Details About the Proposal
The proposal put to Hamas had set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange.
There was a brief ceasefire and prisoner and hostage swap last year, but it did not turn into a longer-term truce.
Israel Accuses Aljazeera
Mr Netanyahu also said on Sunday his cabinet had voted to close the local office of Qatar’s state-owned news broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Israel claims the channel has collaborated with Hamas.
‘Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,’.Mr Netanyahu said. ‘It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.’
The channel called the claims a ‘dangerous and ridiculous lie’ that threatens its reporters’ safety and said it would pursue ‘every legal step’.
‘The background of this (shutdown) decision is not professional or journalistic… it’s political,’ said Waleed Omari, bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
