Resolutely against the Palestinian state in any post-war scenario: Netanyahu to the US
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he has told the United States that he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state as part of any post-war scenario. In doing so, he underlines the deep divisions between the close allies, three months after Israel’s attack on Gaza, with the aim of eliminating Hamas rulers. .
The US has called on Israel to scale back its offensive and said the creation of a Palestinian state must be part of the next day.
But during a nationally televised news conference, Netanyahu vowed to continue the offensive until Israel achieved a decisive victory over Hamas. He also rejected the idea of a Palestinian state. He said he had conveyed his views to the Americans.
In any future arrangement, Israel needs security control over the entire area west of the Jordan, Netanyahu told a nationally broadcast news conference. This clashes with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?
The Prime Minister must be able to say no to our friends, he added.
More than 100 days after Hamas launched the war with its October 7 attack, Israel continues to wage one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, aiming to dismantle the militant group that has occupied Gaza since 2007 reigns and returns dozens of soldiers. prisoners. The war has fueled tensions across the region and threatens to spark other conflicts.
More than 24,600 Palestinians have been killed, about 85% of the narrow coastal region’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population is hungry, according to the United Nations.
Hundreds of thousands have heeded Israeli evacuation orders and packed into southern Gaza, where United Nations shelters are overcrowded and huge tent camps have sprung up. Israel has continued to attack what it says are militant targets in all parts of Gaza, often killing women and children.
On Thursday, medics said an Israeli airstrike on a house killed 16 people, half of them children, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Dr. Talat Barhoum of el-Najjar Hospital in Rafah confirmed the toll and said dozens were still injured. Associated Press footage from the hospital showed family members crying over the bodies of loved ones.
They were hungry, they were starving, and now they too have been affected, said Mahmoud Qassim, a relative of some of the victims.
Footage emerged Thursday of Israeli forces blowing up the main campus of a university outside Gaza City in a controlled explosion, one of several universities they have destroyed. The video, apparently taken by a drone, showed a massive explosion engulfing the Al-Israa University building complex.
The university, a private institution founded in 2014, said in a statement that its main building for graduate and undergraduate studies had been destroyed. According to the report, Israeli forces seized the complex 70 days ago and used it as a base. It was unclear when the explosion occurred. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
According to Hamas, Israeli forces have destroyed more than 390 schools, universities and educational institutions in Gaza.
Internet and mobile services in Gaza have been out for five days, the longest of several outages during the war, according to internet access organization NetBlocks. The disruptions complicate rescue efforts and make it difficult to obtain information about the latest strikes and casualties.
There was no word, meanwhile, on whether medicines that entered the territory on Wednesday as part of a deal between France and Qatar had been distributed to dozens of hostages with chronic diseases held by Hamas.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: January 19, 2024 | 7:29 am IST