Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his press conference in Jerusalem on February 7. Screengrab, Via X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s conditions for a new ceasefire and hostage deal on February 7, calling them “delusional”.
Speaking with reporters during a press conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu insisted that he had made no specific promises regarding the release of Palestinian prisoners with “blood on their hands,” or any ratio for Palestinian prisoners to be freed in return for Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip, noting that Israel “has not committed to anything.”
“There is supposed to be some kind of negotiation via the intermediaries. But right now, given what I see from the response by Hamas [to the Israeli proposed deal], they’re not there,” he said. “Surrender to Hamas’s delusional demands, that we’ve just heard, not only would not bring about the freedom of the hostages, but it would only invite an additional slaughter; it would invite disaster for Israel that no Israeli citizens want.”
Hamas has reportedly proposed a ceasefire plan that would see a four-and-a-half-month truce during which Israeli hostages would be freed from the Gaza Strip in three stages in exchange for at least 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. The plan will eventually lead to an end to the war.
Doubling down on the war on Gaza. Netanyahu said that “victory is within reach,” predicting that the war would be won in a “matter of months” rather than years or decades.
Calling the military’s accomplishments in the war “unprecedented,” Netanyahu claimed that 20,000 Hamas fighters are dead or injured.
Israel’s “valiant fighters” have “proved that everything they told us was impossible was possible… and more,” the prime minister added.
The premier said that after the city of Khan Younis, “the main Hamas stronghold,” the Israeli military is readying to fight next in Rafah, which is located right on Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Asked how the army can achieve an absolute victory if Israel is currently withdrawing forces, Netanyahu replied that “this is a process that takes time” and denied that Hamas is reestablishing itself in northern Gaza, where the IDF, he said, is engaged in ongoing raids to tackle the remaining “splinters.”
“There is no alternative to the military collapse [of Hamas]. There will not be a civilian collapse [of Hamas rule] without a military one,” he said.
The Israeli war on Gaza has so far claimed the lives of more than 27,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. It has also destroyed or damaged half of the Strip’s buildings, displacing more than half of its two million population.
Despite failing to achieve any of its stated objectives, Netanyahu appears to be determined to go on with the war. While this may not be in Israel’s best interest, it will allow the prime minister to stay in power. The end of the war could mark the end of Netanyahu’s political life. He may also face a trail at home for his failures, or on the international level for war crimes.
