Egyptian plan for Israel-Gaza war ceasefire emerges – as Netanyahu aide says Hamas ‘must be destroyed’
Israel remains committed to destroying Hamas, a senior adviser to the country’s prime minister has told Sky News, after Egypt proposed a deal aimed at bringing about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Egypt has reportedly proposed a future for Gaza which involves Hamas relinquishing power and elections being held – while offering assurances to Hamas that its members would not be chased or prosecuted.
But Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, told Sky News Hamas “must be destroyed” when asked how the Israeli leadership imagines Gaza after the war.
Follow latest:
Iran warns Israel over killing of commander
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu had told members of his Likud Party in Israel that the ground offensive in Gaza will expand over the coming days, after attacks appeared to intensify on Christmas Day.
The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry says 250 Palestinians have been killed and 500 wounded in the past 24 hours – with 106 of those said to have died in a Christmas Eve airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp.
But despite international efforts to halt the fighting, Israel’s prime minister told members of his party the war “isn’t close to finished”.
“We are not stopping. We are continuing to fight and we are expanding the fight in the coming days,” Mr Netanyahu said. “There will be a long battle.”
Israel “wouldn’t have succeeded” in releasing more than 100 hostages – taken by Hamas from southern Israel on 7 October – without its military pressure, with 129 thought still to be captive in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu argued.
Diplomatic efforts on a new truce to free the remaining hostages have yielded little public progress so far, as Egypt and Qatar mediate talks.
Cool response to reports of Egyptian proposal
Mr Regev told Sky News Israel wants to see a “demilitarised and deradicalised Gaza” and that Mr Netanyahu “believes in a solution where the Palestinians have all the powers to rule themselves and none of the powers to harm Israel”.
His comments about Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas appear to make any breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations unlikely, though.
And according to two Egyptian security sources, Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad have rejected Egypt’s proposal for a permanent ceasefire – which would reportedly involve Hamas giving up power in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, however, said it has “no information” on these reports and that it seeks a “permanent cessation to the aggression and massacres against our people”.
“We reiterate that there can be no negotiations without a comprehensive cessation of aggression,” Izzat Al Rishq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said.
“Our people want to see this aggression completely halted, and do not want to wait for a temporary or partial truce for a short period, after which the aggression and terrorism might fatally continue.”
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have been holding separate talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, reportedly rejected offering any concessions beyond the possible release of more hostages.
Regev: ‘Hamas war machine would use refugee camp’
Meanwhile, Israel continues to bombard Gaza, with Palestinian residents claiming fighting has only escalated in northern districts – where Israel says it has gained control.
Responding to reports of the Israeli airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp on Christmas Eve, Mr Regev said Israeli authorities are “looking into that” – but told Sky News nobody should be surprised if Hamas used the camp “for its war machine”.
“Unfortunately you have Hamas across civilian neighbourhoods, you have them under hospitals, you’ve had them under schools, even under UN facilities,” he said.
“So you should have no surprises whatsoever in hearing that Hamas would be using Gaza and civilians, including in a refugee camp, for its war machine.”
The Gaza health ministry reports 20,674 people have been killed and 54,536 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas raiders that day.
Situation in Gaza ‘desperate’
Israel’s response to 7 October has compounded what a Red Cross aid worker described as an “unprecedented” year of human devastation around the world, citing earthquakes, floods and conflict.
Rory Moylan described a “desperate situation” in Gaza, where colleagues have told of children becoming sick as they face winter without proper clothing, having fled their homes.
As the Israeli military assault continues, the UN has warned that more than half a million people in Gaza are starving due to “woefully insufficient” quantities of food entering the territory.
The vast majority of the 2.3 million Gazans have been driven from their homes, and the UN says conditions are catastrophic.