Netanyahu rejects growing calls for cease-fire as Israel battles Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday pushed back against growing international calls for a ceasefire, saying Israel’s fight to crush ruling Hamas militants in Gaza will continue with “full force.”

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

The Israeli leader also emphasized that Gaza would be demilitarized after the war, now in its sixth week, and that Israel would maintain security control there. This position appears to run counter to the post-war scenarios of Israel’s closest ally, the United States, which has said it opposes an Israeli reoccupation of the area.

Asked what he meant by security control, Netanyahu said Israeli troops should be able to enter Gaza when necessary to track down militants.

Pressure grew on Israel after frantic doctors at Gaza’s main hospital said the last generator had run out of fuel, killing a premature baby, another child in an incubator and four other patients. Thousands of war wounded, medical personnel and displaced civilians were caught in the fighting.

In recent days, fighting at Shifa and other hospitals in northern Gaza has intensified and supplies have run out.

The Israeli military has claimed, without providing evidence, that Hamas has established command posts in and under hospitals, using civilians as human shields. Shifa medical staff have denied such claims and accused Israel of harming civilians with indiscriminate attacks.

Shifa Hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia said the facility lost power on Saturday.

“Medical devices stopped. Patients, especially those in intensive care, started dying,” he said by phone, with gunfire and explosions in the background. He said Israeli forces “shot at anyone outside or inside the hospital” and prevented movement between buildings.

The Israeli military confirmed clashes outside the hospital, but Admiral Daniel Hagari denied that Shifa was under siege. He said troops will help move babies being treated there on Sunday and said “we are speaking directly and regularly” with hospital staff.

Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence, told Channel 12 that as Israel aims to crush Hamas, taking control of the hospitals would be crucial but would require “a lot of tactical creativity.” , without hurting patients, other civilians and Israeli hostages. .

Six patients died in Shifa after the generator was switched off, including the two children, spokespeople for the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.

The “unbearably desperate situation” in Shifa must stop now, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Robert Mardini, said on social media. UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths stated that “there can be no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them without power, food or water.”

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks were 20 meters away from al-Quds hospital in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, causing “a state of extreme panic and fear” among the 14,000 displaced people who were hiding there.

The Israeli army has released images showing tanks operating in Gaza. The images showed shattered buildings, some on fire, and rubble streets with only troops present.

A 57-nation meeting of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia called in their communiqué for an end to the war in Gaza and for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid. They also called on the International Court of Justice, a UN body, to open an investigation into Israel’s attacks, saying the war “cannot be called self-defense and cannot be justified in any way.”

Netanyahu has said that responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas.

A Hamas official denied that their fighters opened fire on residents trying to leave Gaza City or its hospitals. By telephone, Ghazi Hamad called such claims by Israel lies and said Hamas has no guards at hospital gates to prevent people from entering or leaving.

The spokesman for Hamas’s military wing said militants are ambushing Israeli forces and vowed that Israel will face a long battle. The Qassam Brigades spokesman, identified as Abu Obaida, acknowledged in an audio broadcast on Al-Jazeera that the battle is disproportionate “but it frightens the strongest force in the region.”

The Israeli military has said soldiers encountered hundreds of Hamas fighters in underground facilities, schools, mosques and clinics during the fighting. Israel has said a major goal of the war is to crush Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years.

Following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, which killed at least 1,200 people, Israel’s allies have defended the country’s right to protect itself. But now that the second month of war is in sight, there are increasing disagreements about how Israel should fight its battle.

The US has pushed for temporary pauses that would allow wider distribution of much-needed aid to civilians in the besieged area, where conditions are becoming increasingly dire. However, Israel has only agreed to short daily periods during which civilians can flee the area of ​​ground fighting in northern Gaza and move south on foot along the territory’s main north-south artery.

Since these evacuation windows were first announced a week ago, more than 150,000 civilians have fled the north, according to UN observers. On Saturday, the military announced a new evacuation window, saying civilians could use the central road and a coastal road.

On the main road, a stream of people fled south, with children and bags in hand, many on foot and some on donkey-drawn carts. One man pushed two children into a wheelbarrow.

“I am diabetic and have blood pressure problems. Where should I go and what do they want from us?

” said Yehia al-Kafarnah, a fleeing resident.

Palestinian citizens and human rights defenders have opposed Israel’s portrayal of the southern evacuation zones as “relatively safe.” They note that Israeli bombing has continued across Gaza, including airstrikes in the south that Israel says have targeted Hamas leaders but have also killed women and children.

Demonstrations and outrage continued. Police said 300,000 Palestinian supporters marched peacefully through London, the largest event there since the war began. Right-wing counter-demonstrators clashed with police.

Thousands have fled Shifa and other hospitals that have been attacked, but doctors say it is impossible for everyone to get out.

“We cannot evacuate ourselves and let these people in,” an MSF surgeon in Shifa, Mohammed Obeid, was quoted as saying by the organization.

At least 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly in the first Hamas attack, Israeli officials say. The military confirmed the deaths of five reserve soldiers on Saturday; Since the start of the ground offensive, 46 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Nearly 240 people kidnapped from Israel by Hamas remain captive.

About 250,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate from communities near Gaza and along the northern border with Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have repeatedly exchanged fire.

“Hezbollah is dragging Lebanon into a possible war,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said after meeting with soldiers stationed along the border.