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Netanyahu Says No Gaza Ceasefire Until Hostages Returned

A picture taken from Sderot along the border with the Gaza Strip early on November 5, 2023, shows smoke and fire rising over the Palestinian enclave during an Israeli strike, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
A picture taken from Sderot along the border with the Gaza Strip early on November 5, 2023, shows smoke and fire rising over the Palestinian enclave during an Israeli strike, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
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Netanyahu Says No Gaza Ceasefire Until Hostages Returned

A picture taken from Sderot along the border with the Gaza Strip early on November 5, 2023, shows smoke and fire rising over the Palestinian enclave during an Israeli strike, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
A picture taken from Sderot along the border with the Gaza Strip early on November 5, 2023, shows smoke and fire rising over the Palestinian enclave during an Israeli strike, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected growing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza until all of the more than 240 hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attacks are returned.
"There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages. This should be completely removed from the lexicon," Netanyahu told crews at the Ramon air force base in southern Israel, reiterating the government's long-standing position.
"We say this to our friends and to our enemies. We will simply continue until we defeat them. We have no alternative."
Gaza health officials said on Sunday more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed in the current war.

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Arab World

France to Host Syria Meeting with Arab, Turkish, Western Partners in January

This aerial view shows people celebrating the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, around the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of Homs on December 18, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows people celebrating the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, around the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of Homs on December 18, 2024. (AFP)
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France to Host Syria Meeting with Arab, Turkish, Western Partners in January

This aerial view shows people celebrating the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, around the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of Homs on December 18, 2024. (AFP)
This aerial view shows people celebrating the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad, around the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of Homs on December 18, 2024. (AFP)

France will host a meeting on Syria with Arab, Turkish, western partners in January, said France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Wednesday.

The meeting will be a follow-up to the one held in Jordan last week.

Speaking in parliament, Barrot added that reconstruction aid and the lifting of sanctions in Syria would depend on clear political and security commitments by the new authorities.

The new Syrian transition authorities will not be judged on words, but on actions over time, he stressed.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed that the transition in Syria should be respectful of the rights of all communities in the country, the French presidency said after the leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday.

"They expressed their wish that a peaceful and representative political transition, in accordance with the principles of resolution 2254, respectful of the fundamental rights of all communities in Syria, be conducted as soon as possible," an Elysee statement said, referring to a United Nations Security Council resolution.  

Barrot added that fighting in northeastern Syrian cities of Manbij and Kobane must stop immediately.

France is working to find deal between Turks and Kurds in Syria’s northeast that meets interests of both sides, he revealed.

Macron made clear in his call with Erdogan that Kurdish Syrians needed to be fully-integrated in political transition process, continued the FM.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces must be part of the political transition process, he urged.