Gaza – Hamas, Netanyahu, Biden
The Palestinian militant Hamas movement wants the ceasefire with Israel extended after the four days agreed expire, Hamas announced, according to Reuters. But there are certain conditions, Hamas said. A prerequisite was “a serious effort” to get more Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed US President Joe Biden that he is open to extending the ceasefire. This can be done on condition that Hamas releases ten hostages a day. “But once the ceasefire is over, Israel will resume its military operations in the Gaza Strip at full strength,” Netanyahu said Sunday evening after a phone call with Biden.
The US president has expressed hope that the ceasefire can be extended “so that we can release more hostages and get more humanitarian aid to those in need in Gaza”, he said on Sunday, according to the dpa news agency.
Earlier Sunday. Netanyahu visited Gaza on Sunday for the first time during the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war. Here, on day three of a planned ceasefire of at least four days, he addressed Israeli soldiers: “We will continue until the end, until victory,” he said in footage released by his office. “Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the power, strength, will and determination to achieve all the goals of war, and we do.”
The decades-long conflict has flared up again after Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7. Around 1200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli authorities. Almost 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s subsequent offensive, according to Palestinian health authorities. /ritzau/AFP