Ready To “Deepen” Gaza Operation If No Progress On Hostages, Says Israel

Regardless of months of shuttle diplomacy, mediators have up to now did not dealer a brand new truce. (File)

Jerusalem:

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated Tuesday Israel was ready to “deepen” its Gaza operation if truce talks fail to safe the discharge of hostages Hamas holds within the Palestinian territory.

Israel is ready to “make compromises” to get hostages out of Gaza, Gallant stated after touring the Rafah space following an Israeli incursion on the Rafah border crossing within the territory’s south.

However “if that possibility is eliminated, we’ll go on and deepen the operation”, he warned in an announcement.

Gallant’s feedback got here after Israeli negotiators arrived in Cairo for the newest effort in the direction of a hostage launch and ceasefire within the seven-month-old warfare.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace stated in an announcement he had instructed Israel’s delegation to “stand agency on the situations crucial for the discharge” of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 assault, and on “important necessities for guaranteeing Israel’s safety”.

The brand new talks come after Hamas introduced late Monday it had accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and stated the ball was now in Israel’s court docket.

Regardless of months of shuttle diplomacy, mediators have up to now did not dealer a brand new truce just like the week-long ceasefire that noticed 105 hostages launched final November, the Israelis amongst them in trade for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Earlier negotiation efforts had stalled partially due to Hamas’s demand for a long-lasting ceasefire and Netanyahu’s vows to crush its remaining fighters in Rafah.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu stated he had given the order late Monday to grab Rafah crossing, and that “inside hours, our forces raised the Israeli flags on the Rafah crossing and took down the Hamas flags”.

“Seizing the passage in Rafah right this moment is an important step,” he stated — “an vital step on the best way to destroying the remaining army capabilities of Hamas”.

Netanyahu maintained Tuesday that “this morning we denied Hamas a passage that was important for establishing its reign of terror within the (Gaza) Strip”.

Gallant indicated that the restricted Rafah incursion, launched after Israel ordered Palestinians within the east of town to evacuate forward of a long-threatened floor operation, could possibly be prolonged.

“This operation will proceed till we eradicate Hamas within the Rafah space and the complete Gaza Strip, or till the primary hostage returns,” he stated in his assertion.

If hostages will not be returned, Gallant stated Israel would increase its operations “all around the Strip, within the south, within the centre and within the north”.

“Hamas solely responds to power, so we’ll intensify our actions, and the army stress will end in us crushing … Hamas.”

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