Vidostream | News, sport and opinion from the Vidostream's US Edition

https://vidostream.com

Israel treating Gaza ceasefire as temporary and retains 'right to return to combat,' Netanyahu says

Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday as ceasefire to take effect Sunday morning

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday in a televised address that his government is treating the ceasefire with Hamas as temporary and retains the 'right to return to combat.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday in a televised address that his government is treating the ceasefire with Hamas as temporary and retains the 'right to return to combat.'

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, mediator Qatar announced on Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.

But in a national address 12 hours before the ceasefire was to start, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was treating the ceasefire as temporary and retained the right to continue fighting if necessary.

"If we must return to fighting, we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said.

"President [Donald] Trump and President [Joe] Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile," he said, referring to the U.S. president-elect and outgoing president, respectively.

Netanyahu also asserted that he negotiated the best deal possible, even as far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he and most of his party would resign from the Israeli government in opposition to it.

 

The prime minister earlier warned that a ceasefire wouldn't go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as agreed. Israel had expected to receive the names from mediator Qatar.

There was no immediate response from Qatar or the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which led a deadly attack on Israel in October 2023 that saw Israelis taken into Hamas-controlled Gaza.

ANALYSIS: Getting a truce between Hamas and Israel was excruciating. Now comes the hard part

The overnight approval of the ceasefire deal by Israel's cabinet, in a rare meeting during the Jewish Sabbath, set off a flurry of activity and a fresh wave of emotions as relatives wondered whether hostages would be returned alive or dead. 

Families and thousands of others rallied once more in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

 

WATCH | Why is a list of the hostages a roadblock?:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that a ceasefire can’t go forward on Sunday unless Israel receives the list of names of hostages to be released from Gaza as agreed. David Des Roches, an associate professor at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., says one of the reasons might be due to the specific ratios in the exchange of Palestinian detainees and Israeli hostages.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire was reached.

The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel's security cabinet will decide how to proceed.

 

Israel continues striking Gaza

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up attacks since the deal was reached and pounded the territory on Saturday. Gaza's Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Israeli tanks shelled Gaza City, and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said. Medics in Gaza said five people were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent in the Al-Mawasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said that since Friday, it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters who were among 50 "terror targets" it hit across Gaza.

 

A person walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings.
A Palestinian man inspects the damage to a tent for displaced people after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Friday. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
 

"What is this truce that kills us hours before it begins?" asked Abdallah Al-Aqad, the brother of a woman killed by an airstrike in Khan Younis.

Health officials said a couple and their two children, aged two and seven, were dead.

Sirens sounded across central and southern Israel, with the military saying it intercepted projectiles launched from Yemen. Iran-backed Houthi rebels there have stepped up attacks in recent weeks, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

 

'The bleeding will stop'

The war was sparked after a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 others captive, according to Israeli tallies. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced the vast majority of Gaza's population.

 

WATCH | Study estimates Gaza death toll 40% higher than previously thought:

A new report published in The Lancet journal suggests that the number of people killed in Gaza in the first nine months of the Israel-Hamas war could be 40 per cent higher than reported by Hamas officials.

"The first thing I will do is go and check my house," said Mohamed Mahdi, a father of two who was displaced from Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood.

He said he also looked forward to seeing family in southern Gaza but is "still concerned that one of us could be martyred before we are able to meet."

Majida Abu Jarad said she has moved seven times with her husband and their six daughters during the war, heeding Israeli evacuation orders and staying in tents, abandoned classrooms or on the street.

"We will remain in a tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop and we will sleep reassured," she said while packing. 

Israel has faced accusations of genocide in Gaza because of the scale of death and destruction, which it rejects by saying it abides by international law and has a right to defend itself after the Hamas attack.

Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister, have been issued arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.

With files from Reuters

Author: The Associated Press

Source: CBC News:

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.
You did not use the site, Click here to remain logged. Timeout: 60 second