Netanyahu Is Pursuing War ‘For His Personal Career’, Palestinian FM Says

 This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the distance following Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)
This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the distance following Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Is Pursuing War ‘For His Personal Career’, Palestinian FM Says

 This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the distance following Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)
This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the distance following Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip on February 14, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday of caring only about his political survival as attempts to end the conflict in Gaza appeared inconclusive.

More than 28,000 people have been killed and 68,000 injured in Gaza during Israel's retaliatory military campaign against Hamas militants who run the enclave following their deadly cross-border attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, when they killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages.

Now, concerns are mounting of an Israeli ground offensive against the town of Rafah, a last refuge for more than a million Palestinians virtually trapped after they fled to the south of the enclave to avoid Israeli strikes.

Maliki, a member of the Palestinian Authority running the West Bank, said it was imperative to find ways to prevent an attack on Rafah.

"Netanyahu is determined that he wants to continue the war for his personal career, for his personal future, and it is very clear that he doesn't care about the destiny, the lives of innocent people, both in Israel and in Palestine, the Israeli hostages and the Palestinian innocent people in Gaza," Maliki said after meeting Constantinos Kombos, the Cypriot foreign minister.

In Jerusalem, there was no immediate reply from Netanyahu's office to a request for comment on Maliki's remark.

Cyprus, the closest EU member state to the Middle East, has proposed setting up a dedicated, one-way maritime corridor to deliver aid directly into Gaza. The project cannot get off the ground without a sustained ceasefire.

"We agree that the escalating humanitarian needs call for a scaled up, unhindered flow of aid," the Cypriot minister said.



Trump Says there Could Be a Gaza Deal Next Week

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on the way to New Jersey, US, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on the way to New Jersey, US, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
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Trump Says there Could Be a Gaza Deal Next Week

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on the way to New Jersey, US, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on the way to New Jersey, US, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

President Donald Trump said on Friday it was good that Hamas said it had responded in "a positive spirit" to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal.

He told reporters aboard Air Force One there could be a deal on a Gaza ceasefire by next week but that he had not been briefed on the current state of negotiations.

Hamas announced on Friday that it has completed its internal consultations, as well as discussions with Palestinian factions and forces, regarding the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators to end the assault on the Gaza Strip.

In a press statement, the movement confirmed that it had submitted its response to the mediators, describing it as positive. Hamas also expressed its readiness to immediately engage in serious negotiations on the mechanism for implementing the proposed framework.

A Palestinian official familiar with the matter told Reuters that Hamas had submitted its response to the US-brokered ceasefire proposal, describing it as positive and likely to facilitate reaching an agreement.