Page 23 - Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu seeks open-ended control over security, civilian affairs in Gaza

Israel seeks open-ended control over security and civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip, according to a long-awaited postwar plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was swiftly rejected Friday by Palestinian leaders and runs counter to Washington's vision for the war-ravaged enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the two-page document to his security Cabinet late Thursday for approval. Deep disagreements over Gaza's future have led to increasingly public friction between Israel and the United States, its closest ally. The Biden administration seeks eventual Palestinian governance in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a precursor to Palestinian statehood, an outcome vehemently opposed by Netanyahu and his right-wing government. Netanyahu's plan envisions hand-picked Palestinians in Gaza administering the territory. Separately, cease-fire efforts appeared to gain traction, with mediators to present a new proposal at an expected high-level meeting this weekend

Netanyahu slams Brazilian president's comparison of Gaza war to Holocaust

Israel has condemned Brazil's president for comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust, accusing him of being antisemitic and trivializing the Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II. The outcry further strained relations between the countries, which have deteriorated since President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to office last year. Lula has portrayed himself as a leader of the Global South, a loosely defined group of developing countries. Speaking to reporters at the African Union summit in Ethiopia, Lula said that what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn't been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews." Such comments strike a raw nerve in Israel, a country established as a haven for Jews in the wake of the Holocaust. Israel rejects any comparisons of its conduct in the war in Gaza to the Holocaust. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lula's comments trivialised the Holocaus

What would be the implications of collapse of Israel-Egypt peace treaty?

It was a warm handshake between the unlikeliest of statesmen, conducted under the beaming gaze of President Jimmy Carter. Sunlight streamed through the trees at Camp David, Maryland, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin solidified a landmark agreement that has allowed over 40 years of peace between Israel and Egypt. It has served as an important source of stability in a volatile region. That peace has held through two Palestinian uprisings and a series of wars between Israel and Hamas. But now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to send Israeli troops into Rafah, a city in Gaza on the border with Egypt, the Egyptian government is threatening to void the agreement. Here's a look at the history of the treaty and what could happen if it is nullified. HOW DID THE TREATY ORIGINATE? It was 1977, and Begin, Israel's new prime minister, opposed ceding any of the land Israel had conquered a decade earlier in the 1967 Mideast war. Those lands

PM Netanyahu directs military to plan evacuation of population from Rafah

Rafah, a southern Gaza city, currently houses more than 1.3 million people. The majority of the people, who are living there are basically evacuees from other parts of Gaza

Israel hit with first ever downgrade as Moody's cites impact of war

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision does not reflect the state of the country's economy

Netanyahu orders population of Gaza's Rafah evacuated ahead of invasion

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold and it needs to send in troops to complete its war plan against the Islamic militant group

Toll from Israeli army action in Gaza is still 'too high': Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the toll from Israel's military offensive on Gaza's civilians remains "too high". Blinken made the comments Wednesday as he was in the region seeking to broker a cease-fire that would pause the fighting. Blinken said the Israeli offensive, launched in response to a deadly Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, is "fully justified". But he expressed concern about the effects of the offensive on Gaza civilians. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the fighting, and the offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and led to a humanitarian crisis. As I told the prime minister and other Israeli officials, the daily toll that its military operations continue to take on innocent civilians remains too high, Blinken said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected Hamas' terms for a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, vowing to continue the war until absolute victory and dismissing any ...

Netanyahu rejects Hamas cease-fire demands, vows to fight until victory

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas demands for a cease-fire and vowed to press ahead with Israel's military offensive in Gaza until achieving absolute victory. Netanyahu made the comments Wednesday shortly after meeting the visiting U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who has been traveling the region in hopes of securing a cease-fire agreement. We are on the way to an absolute victory, Netanyahu said, adding that the operation would last months, not years. "There is no other solution." He ruled out any arrangement that leaves Hamas in full or partial control of Gaza. He also said that Israel is the only power capable of guaranteeing security in the long term. Netanyahu also called for the replacement of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Blinken was scheduled to give a news conference later Wednesday.

Israel's evacuation covers 67% of Gaza, leaves Palestinians crammed

Israel's evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip now cover two-thirds of the territory, or 246 square kilometers (95 square miles), United Nations humanitarian monitors said Tuesday. More than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people is now crammed into the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt and surrounding areas, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the known Palestinian death toll is at 27,478 people after nearly four months of war. A quarter of Gaza's residents are now starving and 85% of the population has been driven from their homes, with hundreds of thousands crammed in makeshift tent camps. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shortly after arriving in the kingdom Monday. It's Blinken's fifth visit to the Mideast since the war in Gaza broke out on Oct. 7, when Hamas stormed into southern Israel. The assault killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilian

Netanyahu slams President Biden's condemnation of Israeli settlers

Biden also said that they undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to "lead to broader regional destabilisation across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests

Israel's PM Netanyahu rejects 2 key Hamas demands for any cease-fire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected two key demands Hamas has made during indirect cease-fire talks, saying Israel will not withdraw from the Gaza Strip or release thousands of jailed militants. During an event Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu again vowed that the war would not end without Israel's absolute victory over Hamas. Meanwhile, Israeli forces working undercover killed three Palestinian militants in a raid on a hospital in the West Bank, where violence has surged since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The Israeli military said forces entered the Ibn Sina hospital in the northern city of Jenin early Tuesday and shot the three men, whom Hamas claimed as members. The military said the men were using the hospital as a hideout and that at least one was planning an attack. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli forces opened fire inside the hospital's wards and called on the international community to stop Israeli operations in ...

Netanyahu rules out Gaza pullout, release of thousands of militants Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there will be no military withdrawal from Gaza or the release of thousands of jailed militants, two key demands of Hamas in ongoing indirect cease-fire talks. During an event in the occupied West Bank, he once again vowed that the war will not end without absolute victory over Hamas. We will not end this war without achieving all of our goals, he said. We will not pull out the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists.

UN court misrepresented my comments in genocide ruling: Israel's president

Israel's president on Sunday accused the UN world court of misrepresenting his words in a ruling that ordered Israel to take steps to protect Palestinians and prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip. The court's ruling on Friday cited a series of statements made by Israeli leaders as evidence of incitement and dehumanizing language against Palestinians. They included comments by President Isaac Herzog made just days after the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack that triggered Israel's war against the Islamic militant group. Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in that attack and took about 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has left more than 26,000 Palestinians dead, displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza's inhabitants and led to a humanitarian crisis in the territory. Talking about Gaza's Palestinians at an October 12 news conference, Herzog said that an entire nation was responsible for the massacre, the report by the International Court of Justice noted. But Herzog s

Netanyahu defiant after UN court ruling, says aiming for 'complete victory'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday pushed back after an International Court of Justice ruling to limit death and destruction in the military's Gaza offensive, declaring that we decide and act according to what is required for our security and vowing to press on until complete victory. Witnesses said three Palestinians were killed earlier Saturday in an airstrike that Israel's military said was targeting a Hamas commander in southern Gaza. Israel's military is under increasing scrutiny now that the top United Nations court has asked Israel for a compliance report in a month. The court's binding ruling on Friday stopped short of ordering a cease-fire, but its orders were in part a rebuke of Israel's conduct in its nearly 4-month war against Gaza's Hamas rulers. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main organization aiding Gaza's population amid the humanitarian disaster, saw more countries suspend its funding following allegations that a number of Gaza staf

Israel instructs Northern farmers to be prepared for expansion of war

People are also instructed to check the functioning of generators, to increase food stocks and to perform any additional action they think is right in order

Netanyahu mourns loss of 21 soldiers in Gaza, says army will fight on

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mourned the loss of 21 soldiers in the deadliest single attack in Gaza and says the army will fight on until absolute victory. In a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said Monday was one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war. He says the army will launch an investigation into the attack, in which a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the soldiers. It was the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the ground operation began. In the posting on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote: In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.

Kin of hostages in Gaza storm Israel's parliament asking for release deal

The developments showed the increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dug in on both fronts

Biden, Netanyahu speak for first time in weeks during war tensions

Their conversation came a day after the Israeli leader rejected calls from the US and Arab nations for the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza after the war with Hamas

Netanyahu to Gaza hostage families: Hamas has not made a solid deal offer

"I am saying this as clearly as I can because there are so many incorrect statements which are certainly agonising for you," Netanyahu added

Hezbollah official killed, amid apparent Israeli shift to targeted killings

An Israeli airstrike hit two vehicles near a Lebanese army checkpoint in south Lebanon on Sunday, killing a Hezbollah member and wounding several other people, including civilians, Lebanese state media and health officials reported. The strike appeared to be part of a shift in Israeli strategy toward targeted killings in Lebanon after more than three months of near-daily clashes with Hezbollah militants on the border against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. Hezbollah announced that one of its members, identified as Fadel Shaar, had been killed in the strike in the town of Kafra. Local civil defense and hospital officials said seven people were wounded, including two women, one of whom was in critical condition. Video from the scene showed a passenger sedan in flames next to a small truck stopped in the middle of the road. The Israeli military did not comment on the strike. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Hezbollah forces have engaged in near-daily clashes wit