Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel–Hamas conflict, likening such calls for a pause in the fighting to a demand for the Israeli side to surrender.
Israeli forces have carried out extensive airstrikes and limited ground assaults inside the Gaza Strip after Hamas gunmen breached the Israel–Gaza barrier on Oct. 7 and proceeded to kill hundreds of Israeli citizens.
“Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7,” the Israeli prime minister said in English remarks during a Monday press conference. “Calls for a ceasefire are a call for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen. Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war.”
Calls to halt the fighting between Israel and Hamas have spread throughout the international community. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a non-binding resolution last week for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” between Israel and Hamas; 120 nations voted in favor of that UNGA resolution, while 14 nations voted against it and 45 others abstained from voting.
During his Monday press remarks, Mr. Netanyahu said the United States would not have agreed to calls for a ceasefire after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 or the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Humanitarian Conditions in Gaza
Following the Oct. 7 attacks, the Israeli military surrounded the Gaza Strip and restricted the flow of food, water, electricity, and fuel into the confined territory. Israel has warned civilians in the Gaza Strip to move south, and has allowed some limited humanitarian aid to enter the strip in recent days.Biden Admin Backs Israel Despite Civilian Casualties
Despite growing concerns about conditions for civilians in the Gaza Strip, President Biden and other members of his administration have avoided pressuring Israel to stop its military operations.“I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war,” President Biden said. “The Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel. And it’s against their interest when that doesn’t happen. But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using.”
In addition to killing hundreds of people during the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas gunmen also took more than 200 hostages back to the Gaza Strip, including an unknown number of Americans.