GAZA STRIP: A day after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “intense phase” of the Gaza war is winding down, the army bombed targets in the Palestinian territory on Monday and Hamas again demanded a permanent end to fighting.

The right-wing premier spoke in a TV interview on Sunday as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant travelled to Washington for what Gallant called “critical” talks with Israel’s top ally and arms supplier.

Netanyahu, in his first Israeli media interview since the Oct 7, told Channel 14 that “the intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end”. He stressed this “doesn’t mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah,” the far-southern city near Egypt that is the last part of Gaza to face a full ground invasion.

“The goal is to return the kidnapped and uproot the Hamas regime in Gaza,” the premier said, again rejecting the permanent ceasefire demanded by Hamas during on-and-off talks involving United States and other mediators.

Right-wing PM, in his first media interview since Oct 7, ruled out permanent ceasefire demanded by Hamas during on-and-off talks

Netanyahu said Israel would then be able to “redeploy some forces to the north” on the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with the Hezbollah movement have escalated, but said this would be “primarily for defensive purposes”.

‘We are all dead’

With fears growing of full-scale war in Lebanon, Netanyahu said Israel would return its displaced citizens to their evacuated northern border communities, through diplomacy or by “another way”.

When asked about Gaza post-war scenarios, he said Israel would maintain “military control in the foreseeable future” but also wants to create “a civilian administration, if possible with local Palestinians” and regional backing.

Hamas called Netanyahu’s comments “clear confirmation of his rejection of the recent (UN) Security Council resolution and the proposal of US President Joe Biden” for a prisoner release and truce agreement.

The Security Council on June 10 adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting a Gaza ceasefire plan. Biden had billed the plan as an Israeli offer, although some right-wing Israeli politicians critical to Netanyahu’s coalition government opposed it.

On Monday, though, Netanyahu told parliament: “We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden endorsed.” Netanyahu is also pressured by protesters who regularly take to the streets — by the tens of thousands on Saturday — demanding new elections and a deal to free the prisoners.

Along with its insistence on a permanent ceasefire, Hamas says any deal must include a full Israeli withdrawal to stop “Netanyahu’s attempts to evade, deceive and perpetuate the aggression.” For Sumaya al-Amrain, 60, from Zeitun in north Gaza, Netanyahu’s comments meant nothing.

“We are not living, we are all dead,” she said “Enough of killing innocent people, of blowing up, bombing and destroying homes!”

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2024