Netanyahu: A Permanent Ceasefire Will Not Be Established Without the Destruction of Hamas and the Release of All Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday, June 1, that a permanent ceasefire in Gaza will not be established without the destruction of Hamas and the release of all hostages. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated in a post on social media platform 'X' that the country's conditions for ending the war have not changed. The destruction of Hamas's military and governmental capabilities, the release of all hostages, and the guarantee that Gaza will not pose a threat to Israel are the three conditions outlined by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office for establishing a permanent ceasefire. Netanyahu's office emphasized that Israel's policy remains to achieve these conditions before a permanent ceasefire is established, and the notion that Israel would agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are met is incorrect. This is Netanyahu's second statement following U.S. President Joe Biden's speech. In his first reaction to Biden's speech, he stated, 'The Israeli government is determined to bring back the hostages and is working towards this goal as soon as possible.' The Prime Minister's Office also stated that Netanyahu has allowed the negotiating team to present a plan to achieve this goal and emphasized that the war will not end until all objectives are met, including the return of all hostages and the destruction of Hamas's military and governmental capabilities. Yair Lapid, the leader of the Israeli opposition, reacted to Netanyahu's statement by urging him to pay attention to U.S. President Biden's speech on Friday and his defense of Israel's proposed plan for the release of hostages and establishing a ceasefire. Lapid stressed, 'The Israeli government cannot ignore the major speech of the President of the United States.' The opposition leader assured Netanyahu that if Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's National Security Minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's Finance Minister, leave his coalition cabinet, the opposition will support the Prime Minister in achieving an agreement for the release of hostages. In his Friday speech, Joe Biden stated that Israel has presented a new comprehensive proposal that has been conveyed to Hamas through Qatar, outlining a roadmap for a sustainable ceasefire and the release of all hostages. Biden explained that the new proposal consists of three phases, with the first phase lasting six weeks, during which a complete ceasefire will be established, Israeli soldiers will withdraw from all inhabited areas in Gaza, and a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, and injured Israelis, will be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. According to him, the bodies of some deceased hostages will also be returned to their families during this phase. Biden added that during this six-week period, Palestinian civilians will return to their homes and neighborhoods in Gaza, including the north, and 600 trucks of humanitarian aid will be delivered to them daily. The U.S. President stated that during these six weeks, Israel and Hamas, with the help of the United States, Egypt, and Qatar, will negotiate the necessary arrangements to enter the second phase and end hostilities permanently. According to Israel's proposed plan, in the second phase, all living Israeli hostages will be released, and the Israeli army will withdraw from the entire Gaza Strip. Regarding the third and final phase of Israel's proposed plan, Biden stated that in this phase, the reconstruction of Gaza will begin, and the bodies of the remaining deceased Israeli hostages will be returned to their families. Biden's plan has been welcomed by Hamas. Following the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 of last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the hostage-taking of more than 250 others, Israel launched an invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying this Iran-backed group and recovering the hostages. During negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in the fall of last year, over 100 kidnapped hostages were released, but 133 Israeli hostages remain captive by Hamas in Gaza, and Israel believes that at least 100 of them are still alive. Officials from the Iran-backed Hamas group have repeatedly emphasized since the October 7 terrorist attack that they would carry out similar attacks if able. Hamas claims that over 36,000 Palestinians living in Gaza have been killed without mentioning the number of its own members killed as a result of Israel's invasion of Gaza. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields. The Persian section of Voice of America cannot independently verify or confirm the statistics provided by Hamas. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Israel, and several other countries have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.