“Only total victory will guarantee the elimination of Hamas and the return of our hostages”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this, adding: “As Prime Minister of Israel I support this position with determination even in the face of enormous international and domestic pressure. It was this obstinacy of mine that for years prevented a Palestinian state that would have constituted an existential danger for Israel. As long as I am prime minister, this will be my position.”
The Israeli prime minister leaves no room for interpretation. “I made clear to President Biden Israel’s determination to achieve all war objectives and to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.” Benjamin Netanyahu said this, adding that “after eliminating Hamas”, there will be “no one in Gaza who finances or educates terrorism or sends terrorists. The Strip must be demilitarized and remain under full Israeli security control.” Netanyahu then rejected Hamas’ demands for the release of the hostages, i.e. “the end of the war, the exit of the IDF, the release of murderers and rapists and his remaining in power”.
For further information ANSA Agency Netanyahu freezes Biden, thousands in Tel Aviv against the government – News – Ansa.it Guterres: ‘Rejection of the 2-state solution unacceptable’ (ANSA)
Video Tunnel found in Khan Yunis, ‘where some hostages were’
Guterres, Israel’s killings of civilians are unprecedented
“Israel’s military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on an unprecedented scale during my tenure as Secretary General. This is heartbreaking and completely unacceptable. The Middle East is a powder keg, we must do everything we can to prevent the conflict flares up throughout the region.” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this at the G77+China summit in the Ugandan capital Kampala, as reported by the Guardian.
London, Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state is disappointing
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state is “disappointing”. This was stated by the UK Defense Minister, Grant Shapps, quoted by the Guardian. “I think it’s disappointing to hear Benyamin Netanyahu say that he doesn’t believe in a two-state solution. In all honesty, he’s been saying that his entire political career, as far as I know. I don’t think we’re going to get to a two-state solution unless we have two states. “said Shapps interviewed this morning by Sky News, adding that the United Kingdom continues to espouse the two-state solution and that “there is no other option”.
Hamas, ‘over 25,000 dead in Gaza since the start of the war’
The death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas has exceeded 25,000: this was announced by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health of the Strip. Overall, 25,105 people have been killed since October 7th.
The Israeli army, for its part, announced the death of a soldier, Uriel Aviad Silberman, which occurred yesterday during fighting in the southern sector of the Gaza Strip. The total number of Israeli soldiers killed on the ground since the start of land operations in the Gaza Strip, i.e. from the end of October, has thus risen to 195.
Israel reportedly killed between 20% and 30% of Hamas fighting forces in the Strip. This is the estimate – taken from the Wall Street Journal – of US intelligence which is “slightly lower” than that of Israel, which believes it killed 10,000 Hamas militiamen, including 1,000 in the attack on 7 October. According to the same sources, Hamas still has enough ammunition to continue fighting for months and is attempting to re-establish its military presence in parts of Gaza City
Tunnel found in Gaza where hostages were held captive
A tunnel where some of the Hamas hostages in Gaza were previously held prisoner, “in harsh and inhuman conditions”: this was discovered – according to military spokesman Daniel Hagari – by soldiers under the house of a Hamas leader in Khan Yunis, in the south of the Strip.
In the tunnel – at a depth of about 20 meters – a large room was found where about 20 hostages were held captive, some of whom were later freed. Also found were drawings made by the little girl Emilia Aloni, who was also released.
To enter the structure – Hagari said – the soldiers fought and killed Hamas militiamen.
In the underground room discovered by the Israeli army in the tunnel network in Khan Yunis, traces of DNA from Israeli hostages captured on October 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz were found. The daughter-in-law of one of the hostages, eighty-year-old Yoram Metzger, said this on Israeli commercial television Channel 12. “It wasn’t blood, but traces of DNA left in the clothes”, she specified.
His 78-year-old wife Tamar was captured with him and was released in November. Last month Hamas published a video in which Yoram Metzger appeared together with two other elderly hostages, in poor physical condition. According to the military spokesperson, in that cell – without light and with little air – around twenty Israeli prisoners were detained for a certain period, whose fate remains unknown.
“I don’t know where they are now – added Metzger’s daughter-in-law. – They are several elderly people in precarious physical conditions. It is clear that they risk not making it out alive”.
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