Netanyahu says no Israeli pullout from Gaza until ‘total victory’ achieved

Hamas said on Tuesday it was weighing up a new ceasefire proposal in the war with Israel in Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces would not withdraw from the enclave until they had achieved “total victory”.

The developments came hours after Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and Muslim women killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover raid on a hospital in the occupied West Bank – an action that underscored the risk of the Gaza conflict spreading to other fronts.

In Gaza itself, clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in the north of the enclave forced more Palestinian residents to flee to safer areas, and southern parts of the coastal enclave were hit by Israeli air strikes overnight.

Fighting intensified around Gaza’s largest hospital still in service, the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which is surrounded by Israeli troops, the World Health Organization said.

The ceasefire proposal followed talks in Paris involving CIA Director William Burns, Qatar’s prime minister, the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and the head of Egyptian intelligence.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he was studying the plan and would go to Cairo to discuss it. He said the priority for the Palestinian militant group was to end the Israeli offensive – now in its fourth month – and secure a full pull-out of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, said: “We will not compromise on anything less than total victory.”

Israel will achieve all its objectives, he said, adding: “That means eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”

Until then no Palestinian prisoners will be freed from Israeli jails, Netanyahu said.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu’s comments “prove he isn’t interested in the success of the Paris meeting and doesn’t care about (Israeli) prisoners’ lives.”

Hamas allies Islamic Jihad also dampened the prospects of a truce, saying it would not engage in any hostage deals without a comprehensive ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

DRESSED AS MEDICS

In the raid at the Ibn Sina hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin, about a dozen troops, including three in women’s garb and two dressed as Palestinian medical staff, paced through a corridor with rifles, CCTV footage showed.

Hamas said one of the men killed was a Hamas member. Islamic Jihad said the other two killed were brothers who belonged to it. Ibn Sina said one of the brothers had been receiving treatment for an injury that paralysed his legs.

The Israeli military said one of those killed had a pistol, and that the incident showed militants were using civilian areas and hospitals as shelters and “human shields”. Hamas has previously denied such allegations.

But Palestinian sources said the three were not engaged in any fighting. They said one, Basel Al-Ghazzawi, was wheelchair-bound after being wounded in his back, and was in the hospital for treatment.

The Israeli undercover squad broke into the hospital, headed to the third floor and killed them using silenced pistols, hospital sources said.

“They executed the three men as they slept in the room… in cold blood, by firing bullets directly into their heads inside the room, where they were being treated,” hospital director Najy Nazzal said.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila called the incident a war crime. Israel has previously denied committing war crimes.

The Israeli military identified one of the slain men as Mohammed Jalamneh, 27, from Jenin, who it said had contacts with Hamas headquarters abroad and was planning an attack inspired by the Hamas rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

While the West Bank – an area that Palestinians envisage as part of a future independent state – had seen increased violence even before the outbreak of the Gaza war, the hospital raid could fuel a more intense phase of unrest there.

Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 253 taken hostage. More than 100 hostages remain captive in Gaza.

Since then, 26,751 Palestinians have been killed and 65,636 wounded by Israeli actions in Gaza, the Gaza health ministry said. Some 114 Palestinians were killed and 249 injured in the past 24 hours, it said.

Israel says its forces have killed around 9,000 Palestinian combatants in Gaza, and that 221 of its soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

DECOMPOSING BODIES

The war has created a humanitarian crisis, with much of Gaza flattened, hundreds of thousands of people left destitute, and supplies of food, water and medicines almost exhausted.

Health Minister al-Kaila said health conditions were catastrophic due to a shortage of medics, equipment, medicines and facilities. She said decomposing bodies under the rubble were helping spread epidemics.

Israel mounted a new push in northern Gaza after earlier claiming successes against Palestinian militants there.

Much of Tuesday’s action was focused on the Beach refugee camp and near the Al Shifa hospital, residents said.

Residents and health officials also said an Israeli tank opened fire against Palestinians near Al-Kuwaiti Square on the southern edge of Gaza City where aid trucks unload their shipments, killing two people and wounding others.

In the south, Israeli forces kept up pressure in Khan Younis, maintaining their encirclement of the city’s two main hospitals.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks fired near the Al-Amal Hospital and a Red Crescent office in Khan Younis, killing one person and wounding nine.

(Reuters)