BENJAMIN Netanyahu has rejected Hamas's conditions for a ceasefire and vowed to press ahead with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until “absolute victory”.
Netanyahu made the comments on Wednesday shortly after meeting US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who has been travelling around the region in the hope of securing a ceasefire agreement.
“We are on the way to an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said, adding that the operation would last months, not years.
“There is no other solution," he added.
The Israeli prime minister ruled out any arrangement that leaves Hamas in full or partial control of Gaza. He also said that Israel is the “only power” capable of guaranteeing security in the long term.
Netanyahu then went on to call for the replacement of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.
Hamas laid out a detailed three-phase plan to unfold over four-and-a-half months, responding to a proposal drawn up by the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt.
READ MORE: Benjamin Netanyahu 'will not compromise on full Israeli control' over Gaza
The plan stipulated that all hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel – including senior militants – and an end to the war.
Israel has made destroying Hamas’s governing and military abilities one of its wartime objectives, and the proposal would effectively leave Hamas in power in Gaza and allow it to rebuild its military capabilities.
US President Joe Biden (above) said Hamas’s demands are “a little over the top”.
In this latest and deadliest-ever round of fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, levelled entire neighbourhoods, driven the vast majority of Gaza’s population from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population to starvation.
READ MORE: Benjamin Netanyahu says he has told US he opposes Palestinian state post-war
Iran-backed militant groups across the region have conducted attacks – mostly on US and Israeli targets – in solidarity with the Palestinians, drawing reprisals as the risk of a wider conflict grows.
Israel remains deeply shaken by Hamas’s October 7 attack, in which militants burst through the country’s vaunted defences and rampaged across southern Israel, killing some 1200 people – mostly civilians – and abducting some 250, around half of whom remain in captivity in Gaza.
Netanyahu is also becoming increasingly unpopular at home and there is speculation his hawkish governing coalition could collapse if it is felt he is making too many concessions.
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