As of: February 21, 2024, 5:40 a.m
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According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the armed struggle against Hamas will continue until all hostages are released and Gaza no longer poses a threat.
© Ariel Schalit/AP/dpa
The struggle for a ceasefire in the Gaza war continues.
Israel maintains pressure on Hamas.
What will become of the hostages?
The news at a glance.
Tel Aviv/Gaza - While Israel's military continues to take massive action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and wants to permanently expand control over the coastal area, the relatives of the hostages continue to fear for their lives in the hands of the Islamists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his government's determination not to be deterred by criticism in the conduct of the war.
“There is considerable pressure at home and abroad on Israel to end the war before we achieve all of its objectives,” Netanyahu said a few hours after the United States vetoed a draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the UN Security Council had prevented.
Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel newspaper, Israel's right-wing extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich caused an outcry from relatives of the hostages on the same day because he was said to have said that the return of the abducted people was "not the most important thing" at the moment.
Israel's government must focus primarily on destroying Hamas.
Netanyahu: Don't let pressure stop us
“We are not prepared to pay any price (for the hostages), and certainly not the delusional price that Hamas wants to demand from us,” Netanyahu said during a visit to troops near the Gaza border.
The armed struggle against Hamas will continue until all hostages are released and Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
“No amount of pressure can change that,” Netanyahu said.
The USA justified its veto in the UN Security Council against an immediate ceasefire by not wanting to undermine the ongoing negotiations on a temporary ceasefire and the release of the hostages.
The indirect talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the USA have not gotten off the ground lately, but will continue.
Protests following statements by right-wing extremist ministers
Meanwhile, according to the Times of Israel, Israel's Finance Minister Smotrich responded in an interview with Israel's Kan channel when asked whether, in his opinion, the most important thing was the repatriation of the 134 hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 Hamas attack The goal is: “No.
It is not the most important thing.” The main focus must be on destroying Hamas, the newspaper continued, quoting the minister.
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According to the newspaper, his comments sparked angry protests.
Relatives of the hostages, who held a vigil in front of the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, blocked several main streets out of outrage.
Anyone who thinks that the hostages are not important should have their own children taken hostage, "then you can talk," the paper quoted a man whose daughter is in the power of Hamas as saying.
Report: Invasion of Rafah unlikely before Ramadan
Meanwhile, Israel's army is preparing for an invasion in Rafah to, according to its own statements, destroy the remaining Hamas battalions and free suspected hostages there.
However, the government has not yet issued an operational order.
Military action in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt is highly controversial because around 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded there in a small area, most of whom had already fled the fighting in other parts of the coastal area.
Aid organizations point to a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
According to the Times of Israel, it is highly unlikely from the US perspective that Israel will launch the offensive before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10th.
As the newspaper reported, Israel's army is still in the process of completing operations in the town of Khan Yunis, north of Rafah, which has been hotly contested for weeks.
At the same time, there are plans to bring the civilian population in Rafah to safety.
Implementing such a plan, including mechanisms to support people after they are housed in other locations, would take weeks, the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying.
An Israeli official said the army planned to house the civilians in an area to the north between Khan Yunis and the Wadi Gaza riverbed, which separates north and south Gaza.
Report: Israel expands road to control Gaza
According to a report in the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal”, the Israeli army is currently expanding a road across the Gaza Strip in order to maintain security control over the Palestinian coastal area indefinitely.
The gravel road divides the sealed-off coastal strip south of the city of Gaza from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean coast along an east-west corridor that has been occupied by Israeli troops since the war began a good four months ago.
The road expansion is part of Israeli efforts to reshape the topography of the Gaza Strip, the newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed defense officials.
This will allow the military to continue to move quickly through the coastal area on a safe route even after most troops have withdrawn.
Israel already controls key north-south roads in Gaza.
The expansion of the road shows how the Israeli army is preparing for the next phase of the war, in which it plans to withdraw from populated areas and focus on targeted attacks against Hamas.
The east-west route should be used and patrolled until Israel's military operations are completed.
This could take months or even years, it said.
Aid organization accuses Israel of attacking emergency shelter
Meanwhile, the aid organization Doctors Without Borders reported that the Israeli armed forces had shelled an emergency shelter in which the organization's employees and their families were staying during an operation in the town of Al Mawasi in the Khan Yunis area.
At least two family members of employees were killed and six people were injured, the organization wrote on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
At the dpa's request, the Israeli army said it wanted to check the information.
The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with Gaza.
On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken hostage.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.
Because of the many civilian victims and the massive destruction, Israel has come under strong international criticism.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 29,195 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far.
The information, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, is difficult to independently verify.
What is important today
US President Joe Biden's Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk wants to speak in Cairo with the head of Egyptian intelligence about the expected Israeli military operation in Rafah and efforts to release hostages held by Hamas.
Biden had warned Israel in clear terms that such a military operation “should not take place without a credible and feasible plan to ensure the security and support of the civilian population in Rafah.”
There must be “a temporary ceasefire” to free the hostages.
Biden expressed the expectation that “the Israelis will not mount a massive ground offensive in the meantime.”
dpa