{"id":87472,"date":"2023-12-25T23:29:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T23:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/egyptian-plan-for-israel-gaza-war-ceasefire-emerges-as-netanyahu-aide-says-hamas-must-be-destroyed-world-news\/"},"modified":"2023-12-25T23:29:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T23:29:58","slug":"egyptian-plan-for-israel-gaza-war-ceasefire-emerges-as-netanyahu-aide-says-hamas-must-be-destroyed-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/egyptian-plan-for-israel-gaza-war-ceasefire-emerges-as-netanyahu-aide-says-hamas-must-be-destroyed-world-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Egyptian plan for Israel-Gaza war ceasefire emerges – as Netanyahu aide says Hamas ‘must be destroyed’ | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Egyptian plan for Israel-Gaza war ceasefire emerges – as Netanyahu aide says Hamas ‘must be destroyed’ | World News<\/h2>\n
Egyptian plan for Israel-Gaza war ceasefire emerges – as Netanyahu aide says Hamas ‘must be destroyed’ | World News<\/p>\n
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Israel remains committed to destroying Hamas, a senior adviser to the country’s prime minister has told Sky News, after Egypt proposed a deal aimed at bringing about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Egypt has reportedly proposed a future for Gaza which involves Hamas relinquishing power and elections being held – while offering assurances to Hamas that its members would not be chased or prosecuted.<\/p>\n
But Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, told Sky News Hamas “must be destroyed” when asked how the Israeli leadership imagines Gaza after the war.<\/p>\n
Follow latest: Iran warns Israel over killing of commander<\/strong><\/p>\n
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu had told members of his Likud Party in Israel that the ground offensive in Gaza will expand over the coming days, after attacks appeared to intensify on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
The Hamas-led Gaza<\/strong> health ministry says 250 Palestinians have been killed and 500 wounded in the past 24 hours – with 106 of those said to have died in a Christmas Eve airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
But despite international efforts to halt the fighting, Israel’s prime minister told members of his party the war “isn’t close to finished”.<\/p>\n
“We are not stopping. We are continuing to fight and we are expanding the fight in the coming days,” Mr Netanyahu said. “There will be a long battle.”<\/p>\n
Israel<\/strong> “wouldn’t have succeeded” in releasing more than 100 hostages – taken by Hamas<\/strong> from southern Israel on 7 October – without its military pressure, with 129 thought still to be captive in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu argued.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic efforts on a new truce to free the remaining hostages have yielded little public progress so far, as Egypt and Qatar mediate talks.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n Image:<\/span> \n Damage at the Maghazi camp in central Gaza \n <\/span> \n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Cool response to reports of Egyptian proposal<\/strong><\/p>\n
Mr Regev told Sky News Israel wants to see a “demilitarised and deradicalised Gaza” and that Mr Netanyahu “believes in a solution where the Palestinians have all the powers to rule themselves and none of the powers to harm Israel”.<\/p>\n
His comments about Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas appear to make any breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations unlikely, though.<\/p>\n
And <\/strong>according to two Egyptian security sources, Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad have rejected Egypt’s proposal for a permanent ceasefire – which would reportedly involve Hamas giving up power in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Hamas, however, said it has “no information” on these reports and that it seeks a “permanent cessation to the aggression and massacres against our people”.<\/p>\n
“We reiterate that there can be no negotiations without a comprehensive cessation of aggression,” Izzat Al Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said.<\/p>\n
“Our people want to see this aggression completely halted, and do not want to wait for a temporary or partial truce for a short period, after which the aggression and terrorism might fatally continue.”<\/p>\n
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have been holding separate talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, reportedly rejected offering any concessions beyond the possible release of more hostages.<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n Image:<\/span> \n Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses at the Maghazi camp \n <\/span> \n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Regev: ‘Hamas war machine would use refugee camp’<\/strong><\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Israel continues to bombard Gaza, with Palestinian residents claiming fighting has only escalated in northern districts – where Israel says it has gained control.<\/p>\n
Responding to reports of the Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp on Christmas Eve, Mr Regev said Israeli authorities are “looking into that” – but told Sky News nobody should be surprised if Hamas used the camp “for its war machine”.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately you have Hamas across civilian neighbourhoods, you have them under hospitals, you’ve had them under schools, even under UN facilities,” he said.<\/p>\n
“So you should have no surprises whatsoever in hearing that Hamas would be using Gaza and civilians, including in a refugee camp, for its war machine.”<\/p>\n
The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry reports 20,674 people have been killed and 54,536 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas raiders that day.<\/p>\n
Read more: The impossible conditions for children born into conflict Bethlehem praying for a ceasefire as war rages on<\/strong><\/p>\n
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