Hamas on Tuesday rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal—requiring the terror group to disarm before any permanent end to the war—in its “entirety,” prompting Benjamin Netanyahu to defy Brussels with continued strikes.
The Israeli prime minister said during a visit to Gaza that Hamas will “continue to suffer blow after blow” until its ‘red lines’ are dropped and the remaining hostages are freed.
We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives.
But despite repeatedly being accused of “undermining” this effort to release the captives, French President Emmanuel Macron again stressed—this time in a call with Netanyahu—that a ceasefire cannot come soon enough, apparently regardless of whether or not Hamas drops its demands.
Macron added that “opening all crossings to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid is a vital necessity for the residents of the Gaza Strip,” though Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also resisted this call on Wednesday and expressed disappointment in those—like the French president—trying to “mislead.”
Preventing humanitarian aid to Gaza is one of the central pressure tools that stops Hamas from using this means against the population, in addition to the other measures Israel is taking.
כפי שציינתי בהודעתי, מדיניות ישראל ברורה ולא עומד להיכנס שום סיוע הומניטרי לעזה ומניעת הסיוע ההומניטרי לעזה הוא אחד מכלי הלחץ המרכזיים שמונע מהחמאס שימוש באמצעי הזה מול האוכלוסייה, בנוסף לשאר הצעדים בהם ישראל נוקטת – וחבל שיש מי שמנסה להטעות.
Hamas also said on Tuesday that it had “lost contact” with the group of terror fighters holding Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander captive, even suggesting that Israel had “deliberately” struck the area where he was supposedly being held in order to “kill him and hence relieve themselves from the pressure caused by the dual-citizen prisoners.”
In a further threatening message, the type of which has come to be expected, Hamas warned Israel that
Soon, your children will return in black coffins with their bodies torn apart by shrapnel from your army’s missiles.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
