Netanyahu says 'no ceasefire' in Gaza without release of hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that there will be “no ceasefire” in attacks on Gaza without the release of hostages, The Hill reported.
“Well, there’ll be no ceasefire, general ceasefire in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC’s David Muir.
U.S. officials have been pressing Israel to agree to a humanitarian pause in Gaza, but so far have not convinced Israel to do so. In a phone call with Netanyahu on Monday, President Biden discussed the use of tactical pauses in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza — which has continued to escalate since the onset of the war.
In an interview following the phone call with Biden, Netanyahu signaled that tactical pauses could be a possibility in the future of the war.
“As far as tactical little pauses — an hour here an hour there — we’ve had them before, I suppose we’ll check the circumstances in order to enable the goods, humanitarian goods to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave. But I don’t think there’s going to be a general ceasefire,” Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu had previously rejected the idea of a temporary ceasefire shortly after meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had floated the issue of a “humanitarian pause.”