Netanyahu. Photo Courtesy of UN-Photo/Marco Castro
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu let fly verbal condemnation on the terror groups in Gaza for refusing an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire on Tuesday, further saying that Hamas was also guilty of multiple war crimes.
For a handful of hours on Tuesday it appeared that the fight between Israel and Gaza might end, with Israel accepting a truce that Netanyahu and Egypt said had Arab backing. But that was not to be.
“This was a proposal that was endorsed by the UN Secretary General and by the Arab League,” Netanyahu said of the ceasefire in comments released by his office on Wednesday. “Israel accepted the ceasefire, Hamas rejected it. We held our fire for six hours, and during that time Hamas continue to barrage our cities with rockets. Hamas thus shut the door to a diplomatic solution and it therefore bears the sole responsibility for the continuation of the violence.”
The Egyptian media website Ahram Online reported that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also said the ceasefire said it had Arab and international support. Ahram Online further reported that Hamas officially rejected the ceasefire.
The stakes have also been raised for Israel, buy viagra walgreens which saw one of their own killed on Tuesday.
“They killed an Israeli citizen yesterday, but they’re targeting millions of our citizens, directly targeting them with rocket fire which is a war crime, and also using their own civilians as human shields – another war crime,” said Netanyahu. “…I believe that all members of the international community should unequivocally condemn Hamas for these crimes. I believe that all members of the international community should unequivocally support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Netanyahu’s solution long-term to the rocket assault is “to ensure that Gaza is demilitarized from rockets and from the attack tunnels that Hamas is seeking, is building into Israel.” Gaza terrorists have repeatedly sought to build tunnels into Israel to carry out attacks, like the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
It remains unclear how far the proposed ceasefire will go towards the lessening of weapons in Gaza. Ahram Online reported that Shoukry dismissed claims the ceasefire called for the disarming of the Palestinian “resistance”—a Palestinian term that generally refers to terrorists.
For six hours, there was the potential for peace. But there were also Gaza rockets, and so the fighting continues.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, July 16, 2014)