Gaza War Enters Fifth Week as Netanyahu Vows No ‘Pause’ Unless Hostages Released

JERUSALEM, Israel – Now in its fifth week, the war between Hamas and Israel is coming to a critical phase. Despite international pressure, Israeli leaders, so far, are rejecting calls for a cease-fire or pause.

Israel’s military has surrounded Gaza City by attacking Hamas from the air, land and sea.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of pilots about Israel’s clear intention.

“I also want you to know that there is one thing we will not do: There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages,” Netanyahu pledged.
“This should be completely removed from the lexicon. We say this to our friends and to our enemies. We will simply continue until we defeat them.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told CBS Face the Nation Sunday that a potential humanitarian pause would only be considered with the release of hostages. 

“When people talk about pause in the fighting, we are all for a pause that would allow for the release of hostages,” Herzog said, and added, “Unfortunately, it is not our impression that Hamas is serious about releasing them. They are playing for time. They are trying to stop our pressure and rearm and regroup themselves.”

Also on Sunday, the chief Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, provided further evidence that Hamas uses hospitals as cover for their war machine. The I.D.F. released a video showing a tunnel entrance on a Qatari hospital in Gaza. 

“Hamas is hiding behind hospitals,” Hagari asserted. “Hamas is sickly exploiting hospitals to disguise its war machine. Our war is with Hamas not with the civilians of Gaza. We will not accept Hamas’s cynical use of hospitals to hide their terror infrastructure.”

Israel also showed its efforts attempting to warn civilians and get them out of harm’s way. A phone call from last week urged Gazans near the Jabaliya refugee camp to go south, and more than one million pamphlets released warned Palestinians to flee to safety.

The New York Times reported that evacuation efforts out of Gaza were hampered when Hamas put wounded fighters on departure lists among foreigners trying to cross into Egypt.

In the meantime, pro-Hamas rallies continue in major cities worldwide, including Washington, D.C., with protesters at the entrance to the White House.

Due to the alarming rise in anti-Semitic violence, Israel issued an unprecedented global warning: 

Eylon Levy from the Prime Minister’s Office noted, “The National Security Council is urging all Israelis to consider whether any foreign travel, anywhere in the world, is necessary at this dangerous moment. We are also asking citizens – and truly, I cannot believe we are doing this – we are asking all citizens to avoid any outward signs of their Israeli or Jewish identity when traveling anywhere in the world..”   

Up north, the I.D.F. and Hezbollah are engaged in the heaviest fighting since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

During a pre-recorded speech Friday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah neglected to enter the conflict in a major way, announcing instead that consistent attacks would continue along Israel’s northern border.

“The reality on the northern border of Israel today is an unbearable reality. It’s a reality that Israel will not be able to accept for a long time. Israel will not be able to accept a situation where 60,000 people that were evacuated from their homes will not be able to go back,” Nasrallah said. 

Regional security analyst Sarit Zehavi, founder of the Alma Educational Center in northern Israel, believes Nasrallah is keeping options open.   

She told CBN News, I think that the bottom line is that once we are done with Gaza and once the campaign in the south will stabilize – I’m not even saying completely end, will stabilize – Israel will have to find a way to deal with Hezbollah, and Nasrallah knows that, and that’s why he talked about the option of expansion of the war as very realistic.” 

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