Key Points
- Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel halted negotiations with Hamas due to "delusional" demands.
- Israel's prime minister said there was no reason to continue talks until Hamas made changes to its demands.
- Netanyahu also said Israel would push forward with a military campaign into the border city of Rafah.
Israel sent negotiators for truce talks in Cairo as requested by US President Joe Biden but they did not go back for further talks because Hamas' demands are "delusional," according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also said Israel would not give in to "international dictates" regarding a statehood agreement with the Palestinians, which he said could only be reached through direct negotiations without preconditions.
The Egyptian and Qatari-mediated talks to try to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of over 100 Israeli hostages being held in the Hamas-ruled territory have yet to produce results.
When asked why Israeli negotiators did not return for further talks, Netanyahu said Israel "got nothing except for delusional demands from Hamas."
He said those demands included ending the war and leaving Hamas as it is, freeing "thousands of murderers" from Israeli jails, and even demands regarding a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem known as the Temple Mount in Judaism and the Noble Sanctuary in Islam.
Netanyahu also pledged to push on with the military campaign and said troops would move into the southern border city of Rafah, despite international concerns.
He said Israel was intent on taking out Hamas battalions in the city, Rafah and that there would be room to evacuate the population.
"But we need to be sure to do this in an orderly fashion. That's the directive I gave to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). The IDF is doing it and preparing it."
"Yes, there is a lot of opposition in the world, but this is exactly the moment we have to stand and say 'we will not do half the work or three-quarters of the work'."
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Haniyeh added that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and "lifting of the unjust siege," as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.
Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
At least 83 people were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area that borders Egypt and which Israel says is Hamas' last bastion.
Residents and medics said more died as night fell on Saturday when Israeli warplanes carried several airstrikes on at least seven houses, killing and wounding dozens of people.
