Last updated: 26.12.2023, 00:46
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (M) holds a security briefing with commanders and soldiers. © Avi Ohayon/GPO/AP/dpa
Gaza: Israel faces criticism in view of the many civilian casualties. Wrongly, says Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. he enumerates his prerequisites for peace. There is no talk of a ceasefire.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defeat of the Islamist Hamas and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip are prerequisites for peace in the area. "Hamas must be destroyed, the Gaza Strip must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized. These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday.
The U.S., Germany, Britain, France and many other countries supported Israel's intention to crush the terror group, which he said was "an important proxy for Iran." Hamas leaders vowed to repeat the October 7 massacre in Israel, which killed more than 1200,<> people, "over and over again." "Therefore, their destruction is the only proportionate response to prevent a repetition of such horrific atrocities. Anything else guarantees more war and more bloodshed," the Israeli prime minister writes.
Life in the Gaza Strip
Israel "continues to act in full compliance with international law" in the war against Hamas, it adds. Israel is doing its best to keep casualties among Palestinian civilians "as low as possible." According to Hamas' health authority, more than 20,600 people have been killed in Gaza so far. In view of the high number of civilian casualties, Israel's military operation has been heavily criticized internationally.
Netanyahu writes: "Wrongly blaming Israel for these victims will only encourage Hamas and other terrorist organizations around the world to use human shields." "In order to render this cruel and cynical strategy ineffective, the international community must fully blame Hamas for these victims. It must recognize that Israel is fighting the greater battle of civilized war against barbarism," the head of government writes.
In order to prevent the coastal area from being used for further attacks on Israel and to prevent weapons from entering it, Netanyahu writes that it is necessary to establish a "temporary security zone on the edge of the Gaza Strip and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt." For the foreseeable future, Israel will have to "retain the ultimate security responsibility" for Gaza. And in order to finally "deradicalize" people, children must be taught "to value life and not death, and imams must stop preaching the murder of Jews." Dpa