Netanyahu Open To ‘Little Pause’ But No Ceasefire Till Hostages Released (image-instagram/b.netanyahu)
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again ruled out ceasefire and said it will be only possible once the entire captives are freed by Hamas. But he has signaled a ‘little pause’ to allow movement of people and aid to Gaza.
Netanyahu announced the “tactical little pause” while he was speaking in an interview with ABC News on Monday. “There’ll be no ceasefire, general ceasefire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages. As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there – we’ve had them before,” he said.
He then added that he will check on the circumstances for the safer passage of food and humanitarian goods to come in and hostages to leave but there will be no general ceasefire.
This decision might have been taken by Israel due to the growing pressure on them to halt its bombardment on Gaza.
Israel close ally United States too asked for a humanitarian pause during the call earlier on Monday. But no agreement was made, reported The White House.
On Monday, Netanyahu said the loss of civilian’s life was a tragedy, but he disputed on the death tolls in Palestine and said it included ‘several thousands” of Palestinian fighters. He then accused Hamas for using civilians as human shields.
Netanyahu claimed to look after the security of Gaza strip once the war gets over. “When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine,” he added.
On Monday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres once again called out for an immediate ceasefire warning that the enclave had become a “graveyard for children”.
At the same time, UN Security Council once again failed to pass a resolution after two hours of close-door discussions on Monday, reports AP. Differences remained in the council meeting. US called for a humanitarian pause while several other council members called out for humanitarian cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Antonio Guterres said on Monday to the reporters that he wanted an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and halt to ‘spiral escalation’ which is taking place in West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria to Iraq and Yemen.
The death toll in Gaza surpassed 10,000 on Monday and have reached 10,022 since October 7. Over 70 per cent of the Palestinians are being forcibly displaced by ongoing Israel bombing and ground invasion.
