Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated a demand yesterday for Hamas to disarm and for its leaders to leave Gaza as he promised to step up pressure on the group while continuing efforts to return hostages.
He said Israel would work to implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s “voluntary emigration plan” for Gaza and said his cabinet had agreed to keep pressuring Hamas, which says it has agreed to a ceasefire proposal from mediators – Egypt and Qatar.
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Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu’s comments were a recipe for “endless escalation” in the region.
Netanyahu rejected assertions that Israel, which has resumed its bombardment of Gaza after a two-month truce and sent troops back into the enclave, was not negotiating, saying “we are conducting it under fire, and therefore it is also effective”.
“We see that there are suddenly cracks,” he said in a video statement issued yesterday.”