‘The choice for Hamas is simple. Surrender or die’: Netanyahu vows to ‘use all my power to ensure Gaza never threatens Israel again’ as UN prepares resolution on pausing the fighting

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to use “all his power” to ensure Gaza never threatens Israel again, ruling out the prospect of an immediate ceasefire.

The Israeli prime minister spoke after the UN Security Council attempted for a fourth day to pass a resolution calling for an end to the fighting.

Tel Aviv is under increasing pressure for a deal to release more hostages after three Israelis were killed by the IDF after being mistaken for terrorists despite holding up white flags reading 'SOS'.

And in a statement to the people of Israel, Netanyahu pledged to do everything he could to eradicate Hamas.

In a video statement shared with X, he said: “We fight until victory. We will not stop the war until we achieve all its goals: completing the elimination of Hamas and releasing all our hostages.

A child walks among the rubble of the destroyed buildings in Gaza

Israeli soldiers walk next to damaged buildings as smoke rises during a military operation in the northern Gaza Strip

“The choice I propose to Hamas is very simple: surrender or die. They have no other choice and will have no other choice.

“And after we eliminate Hamas, I will use all my power to ensure that Gaza never threatens Israel again. Neither Hamas nor Fatah.”

Half of the fighting has been postponed so far because Israel has rejected the term “ceasefire” and Washington has twice used its veto to thwart resolutions that Israel has opposed since the start of the war.

The United Arab Emirates is backing a proposed resolution that has already been watered down to secure a compromise, according to a draft version seen by AFP.

It calls for “the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance, and for urgent steps towards a lasting cessation of hostilities.”

Hopes that Israel and Hamas could move toward a new ceasefire and an agreement to free the remaining 129 hostages rose this week as the head of the Palestinian militant group visited Egypt and talks took place in Europe.

However, the positions of Israel and Hamas remain far apart.

The Palestinian group's military wing said Thursday that Israel's goal of eliminating Israel was “doomed to failure” and that further hostage releases depended on a “cessation of hostilities.”

US President Joe Biden said of a new deal for the release of hostages: “There are no expectations at this point. But we are pushing it.”

Qatar, backed by Egypt and the United States, helped broker an initial weeklong ceasefire last month, freeing 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Displaced Gazans call for a ceasefire.

“My message is to put an end to this humiliation,” said Fuad Ibrahim Wadi, who took shelter in a greenhouse in Rafah. 'This war does nothing but destroy. Enough is enough.'

The war has raised fears of a wider conflict.

A fireball erupts after the Israeli attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 20, as the conflict shows no signs of ending

Destroyed houses are seen in Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, Wednesday, December 20, 2023. The kibbutz was overrun by Hamas on October 7

People carry the shrouded body of a person killed during the Israeli bombardment of the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 20

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 20

There have been regular firefights across the border with Lebanon, and missiles from Iran-backed Yemeni rebels have disrupted shipping in the Red Sea.

A woman was killed in Israeli attacks in a village in southern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese media and rescue workers said. Two civilians were injured in retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah militants, according to the Israeli army.

Meanwhile, Israel bombed a newly reopened aid crossing on Thursday, Hamas authorities said, hours before the UN Security Council was due to make another attempt to pause fighting in Gaza.

Separate diplomatic efforts were made for a new ceasefire and an agreement for the release of hostages in the worst-ever Gaza war.

The United Nations human rights office in Ramallah said it had received reports that Israeli forces had “summarily killed” at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in Gaza City's Rimal neighborhood this week.

An Israeli official dismissed the accusations as “nothing but a blood libel” and “yet another example of the UN body's partisan and biased approach to Israel.”

Israel is under increasing pressure from allies including the United States, which is providing the country with billions of dollars in military aid to protect civilians.

The UN estimates that 1.9 million Gazans are displaced, out of a population of 2.4 million.

With their homes destroyed, they live in overcrowded shelters and struggle to find food, fuel, water and medical supplies. Diseases spread and communications are repeatedly broken.

Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war is over, and is expected to push for the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-level militants, for those who remain.

Israel has so far rejected the demands. But the country has a history of lopsided exchanges with captured Israelis and the government is under intense public pressure to bring the hostages home safely.

Hamas and other militants still hold an estimated 129 prisoners.

Israeli soldiers fire mortars from southern Israel towards the Gaza Strip on December 20

An Israeli soldier writes on a mortar in a position near the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday

Smoke rising due to Israeli airstrikes on the town of Khan Yunis on December 20, 2023 in Khan Yunis, Gaza

Hamas said Haniyeh, who is believed to be based in Qatar but whose movements are rarely publicized, would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without giving more details.

Ziad Nakhaleh, the leader of the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which took part in the Oct. 7 attack and is also holding hostages, said he would also go to Egypt in the coming days to take part in the talks.

With the death toll steadily rising, Israel is coming under increasing pressure to halt or scale back its offensive.

But Israeli leaders have vowed to continue until Hamas's military and administrative capabilities are destroyed and until all hostages are released.

'We will continue the war to the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed, until victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

“Anyone who thinks we will stop is disconnected from reality,” he added, saying that every member of Hamas is “destined for death.”

His Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Tuesday that in southern Gaza, where the army launched a ground incursion targeting Khan Younis in early December, operations would last for months.

Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack.

The Israeli army says 134 soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in Gaza.

Israel says it has killed about 7,000 terrorists. It blames Hamas for the civilian deaths in Gaza, saying it is using them as human shields in fighting in residential areas.