Netanyahu rejects growing calls for a cease-fire as Israel battles Hamas outside main Gaza hospital

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back Saturday against growing international calls for a cease-fire, saying Israel’s battle to crush Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants will continue with “full force.”

A cease-fire would be possible only if all 239 hostages held by militants in Gaza are released, Netanyahu said in a televised address.

The Israeli leader also insisted that after the war, now entering its sixth week, Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control there. Asked what he meant by security control, Netanyahu said Israeli forces must be able to enter Gaza freely to hunt down militants.

He also rejected the idea that the Palestinian Authority, which currently administers autonomous areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would at some stage control Gaza. Both positions run counter to post-war scenarios floated by Israel’s closest ally, the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the U.S. opposes an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and envisions a unified Palestinian government in both Gaza and the West Bank at some stage as a step toward Palestinian statehood.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/growing-concerns-allies-over-israels-082901269.html

[elias7]

1. So Hamas can let 239 hostages go or get thousands more of its own citizens killed

I cannot understand the support for Islamic jihadists, which is in fact what they are.

[moniss]

2. I can't understand anybody supporting

the terrorists of Hamas or anybody who believes anything coming out of the mouth of Netanyahu.

[Indykatie]

3. Bibi's Management of the War Will Have a Long Term Negative Cost for Israel

The sad thing is I think he knows this and doesn't give a damn. His future whenever the fighting stops is filled with risk including being voted out of office and possible indictments. He is using the war to try and improve his personal situation. It's exactly what Trump is trying to do with his POTUS run. I hope to live long enough to see both of them in prison.

[Beastly Boy]

4. Release all the hostages as a precondition for a cease fire sounds reasonable, no?

[FloridaBlues]

5. Some how Biden will get blamed by certain groups. He is not president in Israel

Prime minister has that role. Perhaps Biden can keep up pressure and see what happens just get out the people who are hostages