Sat 17 February 2024:
Speaking in a televised address, the Israeli prime minister has again come out against a two-state solution and an independent Palestinian state.
“We shall not bow down to international dictates in regards to a future deal with the Palestinians. Such a compromise should be through direct negotiations with no preconditions,” he said.
“How can we give recognition to such a state after the massacre of October 7. This would be a reward for terrorism,” he continued.
The stated policy of the United States, Israel’s closest ally and backer, is that a two-state solution should follow the end to the war in Gaza.
In a news conference, the Israeli prime minister says that Israel’s military “pressure is working” against Hamas, claiming the army has “reached areas in Gaza that the enemy never imagined”.
“Whoever is telling us not to operate in Rafah is telling us to lose an ear,” he says.
Netanyahu also calls Hamas’s demands in negotiations to reach a truce in Gaza “delusional”.
At his press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asked about his handling of the hostage negotiations and his reported failure to consult with war cabinet colleagues Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot before deciding not to send Israel’s negotiators back to Cairo after initial talks there this week.
He says “we took a decision” not to return to the talks after Israel went a long way as regards the terms it was ready to accept but “got nothing in return” except Hamas’s “delusional” demands. These included “demands regarding the Temple Mount, demands to end the war and leave Hamas intact, demands to withdraw from Gaza, demands to free thousands of murderers.”
He says that despite those demands, he had “accepted a request” from US President Joe Biden to send an Israeli delegation to Cairo at the start of the week. He says he instructed the Israeli team to “sit and listen” — and that this approach had been approved by the cabinet.
“There was no change” in the Hamas position, he says. So the delegation came back home, “and obviously there was no change in the instruction: There was no point in going [back] there [to Cairo], until we see a change.”
He says this reflected the war cabinet’s policy, and adds: “I’m running a give and take [negotiation], not a give and give.”
He is asked when and whether he will formally announce to residents of communities close to Gaza that it is safe to return home.
He says financial arrangements have been agreed on, and the Defense Ministry will soon issue a clear statement regarding the security situation.
“There is never a situation of ‘no danger,’” he says. “But the danger of a ground invasion of the kind that happened on October 7 is not real, that’s clear to you. Hamas is deep in the tunnels. Someone can always get through the fence. But that [kind of] mass military terrorist invasion is off the table. And we will not let it return.”
As for mortar, rocket and missile fire, “it is always possible.” But Israel has destroyed a “huge proportion” of Hamas’s capacities in this regard. “I’m not saying it’s impossible” for such fire to happen. That’s why the possibility of residents returning to their homes in the south is close at hand, he says, while the situation in the north still has to be resolved.
Israelis in Tel Aviv protest against Netanyahu
Moments ago during a press conference, the Israeli PM said that the “last thing” Israel needs now is elections.
