Journal De Bruxelles - Israel PM unbowed by pressure for truce in Gaza war

After a day of nationwide protests Monday, Netanyahu told a televised press conference he would "not give in to pressure" to renege on demands in indirect negotiations with Hamas to end the war, now in its 11th month.

Analyst Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said Netanyahu's remarks showed "he won't stop the war... until Hamas surrenders, and he basically announced there won't be a hostage deal".

Gripped by grief and fury after six dead hostages were recovered from Gaza, Israelis took to the streets on Sunday and Monday to ramp up pressure on their government to secure the release of the remaining captives.

The military said the six were all captured alive during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war, and were shot dead shortly before troops found them.

"These murderers executed six of our hostages," said Netanyahu, who has increasingly faced accusations that he is prolonging the war for political gain.

US President Joe Biden on Monday met negotiators working alongside Qatar and Egypt to try to forge a truce deal, and replied "no" when asked by reporters if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal.

The veteran Israeli leader, whose ruling coalition relies on the support of far-right ministers who oppose a truce, insisted that "we say yes" while it is Hamas that has refused to make concessions.

Egypt meanwhile rejected accusations that its border with Gaza was being used to arm Hamas, accusing Netanyahu of seeking to "distract Israeli public opinion and obstruct reaching a ceasefire deal".

Israeli left-leaning daily Haaretz said Netanyahu was "masking his motives with security concerns" but was primarily concerned with his own political survival.

"His coalition... might unravel if a Gaza deal goes through," it said.

- 'Occupy indefinitely' -

Netanyahu again called for "maximum pressure on Hamas" and stated that "the achievement of the war's objectives" requires control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Hamas has long demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and Egyptian officials have voiced their objection to an Israeli military presence on the border.

Netanyahu "wants to occupy Gaza on some level indefinitely" and was now "just saying it more openly", Zonszein told AFP.

Despite "huge opposition" among Israelis who support a Gaza deal, "there's also nobody in the political realm that's able to challenge him", the analyst said.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967 and maintained troops and settlers there until 2005, when it withdrew but imposed a crippling blockade and, since the start of the current war, a total siege.

Adding to the pressure on Israel, Britain on Monday said it would suspend some arms exports, citing a "clear risk" they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

The civil defence spokesman in Gaza said an Israeli raid on a college Tuesday killed two people and injured 30.

Israel's military said it had targeted "Hamas terrorists who were operating inside a command and control centre... embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Numaa College in Gaza City".

Earlier, civil defence rescuers in Gaza reported two killed in a strike on a displacement camp near Khan Yunis.

The civil defence agency, witnesses and AFP correspondents also reported air strikes and shelling across southern and central Gaza.

- Vaccination drive -

Israel's campaign against Hamas has so far killed at least 40,819 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

The October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November -- the only one so far.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas's armed wing the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said remaining hostages would return "inside coffins" if Israel maintains its military pressure on Gaza.

With the territory in ruins and the majority of its 2.4 million residents forced to flee, often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions, disease has spread.

More than 161,000 children have now received a first polio vaccine dose in central Gaza, the World Health Organization representative for the Palestinian territories told reporters Tuesday.

In the north of the occupied West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli forces pressed on with raids that began nearly a week ago and that the Palestinian health ministry said has killed at least 27 people.

T.Peeters--JdB