Israel Prime Minister rejects calls for cease-fire

By Patrick Kingsley, JERUSALEM Israel

Striking a defiant tone at a rare news briefing on Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel ruled out a cease-fire in Gaza, dismissed calls for his resignation and rejected criticism of Israel’s strikes on civilian homes.

The IDF claimed several militants in the Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli raids of tunnels and civilian buildings

Mr. Netanyahu’s political opponents have called for him to resign over his failure to stop the attacks of Oct. 7, when terrorists from Gaza raided Israel and killed more than 1,400 people.

Abroad, the conduct of the Israeli counterattack on Gaza — which has killed more than 8,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry — has generated widespread outcry, with humanitarian groups and the United Nations General Assembly calling for a cease-fire.

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel would not agree to a halt in attacks because, he argued, it would strengthen Hamas, the group that controls Gaza and led the attacks earlier this month.

“Just as the United States would not agree to a cease-fire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor or after the terrorist attack of 9/11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of Oct. 7,” Mr. Netanyahu said, adding that “calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism.”

He then dismissed accusations that Israel is collectively punishing more than two million Gazans for the crimes of Hamas. Israel has cut off electricity, fuel and most food and water supplies to Gaza, and its airstrikes have killed more than 3,000 children, according to the Gazan health ministry.

On Sunday, António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said the number of civilians killed in Gaza was “totally unacceptable” and that “all parties must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.”

But Mr. Netanyahu said Israel was doing what it could to save civilian lives. He cited Israel’s warning civilians to move to southern Gaza, where there are fewer Israeli strikes.

“We’re going out of our way to prevent civilian casualties,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Israel said it hit 600 targets in 24 hours, one of the most intense periods of bombing to date, and that a missing woman soldier was rescued from Hamas inside Gaza.

The release of Private Ori Megidish was “secured during a ground operation” inside Gaza the army said, adding she was in Israel, reunited with family and was “doing well.”

Netanyahu has vowed the war will “eliminate” Hamas, ensuring no possible repeat of the group’s attacks.
Israel has also promised to free the hostages taken by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on October 7.

Israel’s campaign has flattened thousands of buildings and Gaza’s 2.4 million residents are under near continuous bombardment, with little access to water, food, fuel and other essentials.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for a humanitarian truce in the violence, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims has killed more than 8,000 people, many of them children.

On Monday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said the limited number of aid trucks entering the besieged territory were insufficient to meet the “unprecedented humanitarian needs” there.

“Nearly 70 percent of those reported killed are children and women,” said Philippe Lazzarini, who heads UNRWA. “This cannot be ‘collateral damage.’“

Rizk Abu Rok, a 24-year-old paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent, told AFP that transporting those killed and wounded had become a daily routine.

But a recent strike on the Rio Cafe in Khan Yunis added his father and several other relatives to the growing toll.

“I found them all, one after the other,” he said.

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals as military headquarters and using civilians as “human shields.”

But even Israel’s staunchest allies have voiced concern about the dire humanitarian situation inside the territory.

In Washington, the White House has ruled out a permanent ceasefire — fearing it would only give Hamas time to restock and regroup.

But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said “pauses” to allow aid into Gaza should be considered.

Limited aid has entered Gaza from Egypt under a US-brokered deal, but its volume has fallen far short of the hundreds of trucks a day aid agencies say are needed.

Israel said it is inspecting cargo to make sure weapons are not being smuggled in, and is monitoring to guarantee supplies are not seized by Hamas.

More than three weeks on, Israelis are still trying to comprehend the events of October 7.

Still little is known about the fate of the 230-plus hostages — aged between a few months and over 80 years old — who are believed to be held in a network of Hamas tunnels under Gaza.

Hamas recently released a video of what it claimed were three women hostages, seated against a tile wall.

The time and place of the recording could not be verified, but one of the women called for Israel to agree to Hamas’ demand to exchange the hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Netanyahu in a statement decried the clip as “cruel psychological propaganda.”

And even as Israel continues to be struck by daily rocket attacks from Gaza and Lebanon, Israelis have yet to account for all their missing and dead. - Agencies