Gaza conflict: Netanyahu dismisses Biden call to scale back attacks

Benjamin Netanyahu ‘determined to continue’ attacks on Gaza but officials on both sides say ceasefire could come by Friday.

A cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas could come as early as Friday, after US President Biden lost patience with Israel’s prime minister yesterday, demanding that Binyamin Netanyahu ease air strikes on Gaza and move towards a ceasefire.

In a third call between the men in five days, Mr Biden said he expected a “significant de-escalation” of the fighting, which has killed more than 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis. Netanyahu dismissed the demand.

Mr Netanyahu appeared to snub Mr Biden, telling ambassadors he was “determined to continue” with the attacks that have claimed a rising number of civilian casualties.

However as Egyptian officials said they’d made headway in negotiations with Hamas’s leadership, the Israeli military privately conceded that it was nearing the completion of its objectives, according to US and foreign officials.

Top Hamas officials also told CNN they expected a ceasefire to be “imminent.”

Democrats in Washington had urged the president to put more pressure on Israel after nine days of conflict. Until then the administration had repeated that Israel had a “right to defend itself” and refused to call outright for a ceasefire, saying only that it would “support one”. Biden aides said the president believed he could achieve more by “quiet diplomacy”.

That changed yesterday. “The two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States,” the White House said. “The president conveyed to the prime minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows a slide show of IDF attacks on Gaza militants. Picture: AFP.

After refusing to back down, Netanyahu said in a speech that while he “greatly appreciated” America’s support for Israel: “Every day we are hitting more capabilities of the terror organisations, bringing down more terror towers, hitting more weapons caches. I am determined to continue this operation until its goal is achieved, to bring back peace and security to you, the citizens of Israel.”

There had been rumours that Hamas was offering a ceasefire from 6am Thursday. They were denied, with regional media saying Hamas had demanded Israel loosen its grip over the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, where the police actions that triggered last week’s eruption of violence began.

Hamas has spent the last decade building the 'Metro' terror tunnel network.

In just 5 days, we neutralized it: pic.twitter.com/aobcEJcg4t

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 20, 2021

Netanyahu was said to have been reluctant to give Hamas any sort of “win” from the conflict. One suggestion was that Jordan, which is notionally “guardian” of the holy sites of east Jerusalem, would be given a greater role, but even that was rejected despite the two countries having diplomatic relations.

Netanyahu justified the continued attacks on Hamas targets to a group of foreign ambassadors. “There are only two ways that you can deal with them,” he said. “You can either conquer them, and that’s always an open possibility, or you can deter them, and we are engaged right now in forceful deterrence, but I have to say we don’t rule out anything.”

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and its leaders have indicated they are ready for a ceasefire and have achieved their immediate goals but added that they would continue to retaliate against Hamas rocket attacks.

Strikes continued over Tuesday night, with the southern end of the Gaza Strip receiving the brunt of them. The Palestinian authorities said that six people were killed. From the Gaza side a volley of missiles was fired towards Israeli air bases but they did not reach their targets, the Israeli military said.

The Gaza health ministry said 227 Palestinians had been killed in the fighting in total, including 64 children and 38 women. More than 1,600 people have been wounded.

Israel admitted it had failed to kill Mohammed Deif, leader of Hamas’s military wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades. Deif is a long-term target who has survived at least three Israeli air strikes, in 2002, 2006 and 2014, and is reported to have lost an eye, both legs and an arm. News of Israel’s two latest attempts over the past nine days had been suppressed by Israeli censors until yesterday.

The Times