Ariane Ménage (special correspondent in Tel Aviv) / Photo credits: Abir SULTAN / POOL / AFP
Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Hamas terrorists directly in a statement Sunday evening. The Israeli Prime Minister maintains the pressure in his declarations while his army increases it in the Gaza Strip which continues to be the bloody scene of air raids and intense fighting after threats from Hamas not to release the hostages. alive” without negotiation.
“Meet up, now.” These are the words of Benjamin Netanyahu to Hamas, who had explained earlier that no hostage would leave Gaza alive without negotiations. The Gaza Strip was the bloody scene of Israeli air raids and intense fighting on Monday, particularly in the south of the Palestinian enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been displaced since the start of the war.
Negotiations at a standstill
The Israeli army is focusing its offensive on Khan Younes, a large city in southern Gaza, again the scene of airstrikes this weekend, where Israeli army tanks have now reached the city center. Residents of these neighborhoods had been ordered to evacuate, forced to flee to an increasingly narrow area along the coast. Fighting also continues in the North, in Gaza City and its surroundings.
After two months of war, Benjamin Netanyahu assures that Hamas terrorists have surrendered and laid down their weapons by the dozen in recent days. An assertion that the Hamas organization denies and which specifies that the hostages cannot be saved by military action. “They will not come out alive without negotiation,” threatens Hamas. Since the resumption of fighting on December 1, negotiations to try to free the last hostages seem to have stalled, even if Qatar indicates that it is continuing its diplomatic efforts.