Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel remains committed to the proposed ceasefire and hostage agreement in the Gaza Strip, and his military chief said remaining Hamas forces in the southern Gaza city of Rafah had been nearly dismantled.
“We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President (Joe) Biden has welcomed. Our position has not changed. The second thing, which does not contradict the first, is that we will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a speech. to parliament, referring to the American president.
The Israeli army issued a statement based on a situation assessment by the chief of staff in the Rafah area, where Israeli forces have been fighting the remaining battalions of Hamas.
“We are clearly approaching the point where we can say that we have dismantled the Rafah Brigade, that it has been defeated not in the sense that there are no more terrorists, but in the sense that it can no longer function as a combat unit,” the spokesperson said . Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.
The deputy head of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, said: “We are a people on its land and a resistance group defending its land. If the occupation (Israel) announces that it is achieving its goals, let it do so and let it say whatever it wants, and the field can validate and falsify it.”
He added: “If Israel wants to convince itself that it is ready, it must leave the strip,” in response to a question about the Israeli military’s comments on dismantling Hamas during an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV on Mondays.
