Palestine: If Hamas doesn’t surrender, Israel threatens to destroy Gaza City
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: If terror group Hamas does not agree to disarm and release all the remaining Israeli hostage, Israel threatened to destroy Gaza City, the media reported.
Weeks after suggesting a peace deal, which never materialized, frustrated US President Donald Trump had asked Israel on July 25 “to finish the Hamas job.”
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz’s comments came after the Israeli cabinet approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City next month, despite widespread international and domestic opposition.
“Gaza City will be razed if Hamas does not agree on our terms,” he said.
On Monday, Hamas had agreed to a proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire, which, according to Qatar, would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently rejected this, saying he had instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to the war in Gaza on terms “acceptable to Israel.”
Israel believes that only 20 of the 50 remaining hostages are still alive after 22 months of war which began after the Hamas invasion of South Israel on October 7, 2023. The terror group killed nearly 1200 Israelis and foreigners and took around 250 hostages back to Gaza. More than 62,000 Palestinians have since died in Gaza Strip, many more wounded, and over two million displaced.
Israeli media cited an Israeli official as saying negotiators will be dispatched for renewed talks once a location has been determined.
In a video statement during a visit to the Gaza division’s headquarters in Israel on Thursday night, Netanyahu said he had “instructed to immediately begin negotiations for the release of all our hostages.”
“I have come to approve the IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces’) plans to take control of Gaza City and defeat Hamas,” he said.
“These two matters – defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages – go hand in hand,” Netanyahu added, without providing details about what the next stage of talks would entail, BBC reported.
Reinforcing Netanyahu’s message, Defence Minister Katz posted on social media on Friday: “Soon, the gates of hell will open upon the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.
“If they do not agree, Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” he added.
Both cities have been reduced to ruins following Israeli military operations in recent months.
The IDF also warned medial officials and international organizations to prepare for the planned evacuation of Gaza City’s entire population of one million residents to shelters in the south before troops move in.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said it rejected “any step that would undermine what remains of the health system.”
The UN has said intensifying attacks and “relentless bombardment” in Gaza City are causing a “high numbers of civilian casualties and large-scale destruction.” It and aid groups have vowed to stay to help those who cannot or choose not to move.
There are fears that the new military campaign in Gaza City will deepen the humanitarian crisis. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in July that the “worst-case scenario of famine was playing out in Gaza.”
After indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month, Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to take control of the entire Gaza Strip.
