عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Hamas Official Says Netanyahu's Continuation of Gaza War Shows Goal is 'Genocide'

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Hamas Official Says Netanyahu's Continuation of Gaza War Shows Goal is 'Genocide'

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, December 19, 2023. (Reuters)

A senior Lebanon-based official in Palestinian militant group Hamas said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's continued pursuit of war in Gaza showed the goal was "genocide" against Palestinians.

Netanyahu's "insistence on continuing the aggression totally confirms that the goal of the aggression on Gaza is genocide against the Palestinian people", Osama Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut.

"We will exert every effort to protect our people, whether through the resistance on the ground or... political efforts to stop the aggression," Hamdan added, AFP reported.

Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed Hamas's demand for a ceasefire and ordered troops to prepare to move on the city of Rafah in Gaza's far south, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge.

The Israeli leader's comments appeared to dampen US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's hopes for a ceasefire and hostage release deal, even as he cautioned that more negotiations were needed.

An Egyptian official told AFP that "a new round of negotiations" would start on Thursday in Cairo aimed at achieving "calm in the Gaza Strip".

Hamdan said a Hamas delegation led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya would travel to Cairo on Thursday "to follow up on" the negotiations within the framework of Egyptian-Qatari efforts.

He urged "all resistance factions... to continue the fight" and to be cautious of Israeli "treachery during the final quarter-hour of this confrontation, particularly as we are seeking to end the aggression in a way that befits the sacrifices of our people and resistance".

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon and Beirut Outskirts, Killing Five Medics

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 16, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 16, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
TT
TT

Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon and Beirut Outskirts, Killing Five Medics

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 16, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 16, 2024. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Israeli forces pounded southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, and ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.

Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy will lead to an imminent ceasefire.

US mediator Amos Hochstein said this week in Beirut that a truce was "within our grasp". He travelled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, the news outlet Axios said.

His trip was aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon's southern border, which escalated when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.

Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday. Lebanese security sources told Reuters Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam before attacking the town.

Four Italian soldiers were lightly injured after two rockets exploded at a UNIFIL peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon, a spokesperson for UNIFIL said on Friday.

Italian sources said an investigation was under way. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian media that Hezbollah might be responsible for the attack.

Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.

EVACUATION WARNINGS AND STRIKES

Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel's north because of rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.

Abeer Darwich, a resident of a building that was hit in Beirut southern suburbs on Friday, had to leave her apartment immediately after an evacuation warning from Israel's military.

She stood watching while an Israeli strike pounded the high rise building into dust.

"Do you know that most of the apartments' owners took credit to buy those houses? Life savings are gone, memories and safety ... which Israel decided to steal from us," Darwich said .

Evacuation orders were issued on X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-storey building, which toppled in a cloud of smoke.