JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected U.S. calls to scale back Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip or take steps to establish a postwar Palestinian state, prompting immediate criticism from the White House.
The tense back-and-forth reflected a now wide divide between the two allies over the extent of Israel's war and its plans for the future of the beleaguered territory.
“We obviously see this differently,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Netanyahu spoke just a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel would never have “real security” without a path to Palestinian independence. Earlier this week, the White House also announced that it was the “right time” for Israel to reduce the intensity of its devastating military offensive in Gaza.
In a nationally televised news conference, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone and repeatedly said Israel would not stop its offensive until it achieved its goals of destroying Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and destroying any remaining hostages held by Hamas have.
He rejected claims from a growing number of Israeli critics that these goals were unachievable and vowed to continue for many more months. “We will settle for nothing less than an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said.
Israel launched the offensive after an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. Israel believes that around 130 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. The war has heightened tensions across the region and threatens to spark further conflict.
The Israeli attack, one of the deadliest and most destructive military operations in recent history, has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, caused widespread destruction and forced more than 80% of the territory's 2.3 million residents from their homes, according to Gaza health authorities.
The enormous cost of the war has led to increasing calls from the international community to stop the offensive. After initially providing full support to Israel in the early days of the war, the United States, Israel's closest ally, has now raised concerns and called on Netanyahu to outline his vision for postwar Gaza.
The United States has said the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous zones in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, should be “revived” and return to Gaza. In 2007, Hamas pushed authority out of Gaza.
The US has also called for steps to establish a Palestinian state. Palestinians seek Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem for their state. These areas were conquered by Israel in 1967.
Speaking Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Blinken said the two-state solution was the best way to protect Israel, unite moderate Arab countries and isolate Israel's arch-enemy Iran.
Without a “path to a Palestinian state,” he said, Israel “would not have real security.”
At the same conference, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said the kingdom was ready to establish comprehensive relations with Israel as part of a larger political agreement. “But that can only happen through peace for the Palestinians, through a Palestinian state,” he said.
Netanyahu, who leads a far-right government opposed to Palestinian statehood, reiterated his longstanding opposition to a two-state solution. He said a Palestinian state would become a launching pad for attacks on Israel.
He said Israel must have “security control over the entire area west of the Jordan,” adding: “This conflicts with the idea of sovereignty. What can we do?”
“I tell this truth to our American friends and I stop attempts to force us into a reality that would endanger the State of Israel,” he said.
The comments prompted an immediate rebuke from the White House. Kirby said President Joe Biden “will not stop working on a two-state solution.”
Before October 7, Israeli society was bitterly divided over Netanyahu's plan for judicial reform. Since the attack, the country has thrown its weight behind the war. But disagreements have again emerged over Netanyahu's handling of the war.
The hostages' families and their many supporters have called for a new ceasefire that could bring them home. During a week-long ceasefire in November, Hamas released over 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Dozens of people attended a somber gathering in Tel Aviv in solidarity with the family of Kfir Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostage, to mark his first birthday. The red-haired infant and his four-year-old brother Ariel were taken hostage along with their mother Shiri and father Yarden. All four remain in captivity.
Given the slow pace of the offensive and growing international criticism, including genocide allegations at the UN World Court that Israel vehemently denies, commentators have begun to question whether Netanyahu's goals are realistic.
Netanyahu's opponents accuse him of delaying any discussion of post-war scenarios to avoid looming investigations into government failures, keep his coalition intact and postpone elections. Polls show that the popularity of Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, fell sharply during the war.
MEDICINE DESIGNED FOR HOSTAGES ARRIVE IN GAZA
There was no information on Thursday whether medicines that entered the area under a deal negotiated by France and Qatar were distributed to dozens of chronically ill hostages held by Hamas.
The agreement was the first negotiated between the warring parties since November. The agreement also includes large shipments of medicine, food and humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians.
Qatar confirmed late Wednesday that the drugs had entered the Gaza Strip, but it was not yet clear whether they had been distributed to the hostages, who were being held in secret locations, including underground bunkers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which facilitated the release of the hostages, said it was not involved in the distribution of the drugs.
FIGHTING IN GAZA
Hamas continues to fight across the Gaza Strip, even in the most devastated areas, and fires rockets into Israel. It says it will not release any more hostages until there is a permanent ceasefire, something Israel and the United States, its key ally, have ruled out.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have obeyed Israeli evacuation orders and have poured into southern Gaza, where UN-run shelters are overflowing and huge tent camps have been set up.
Israel has continued to carry out attacks on alleged militant targets across Gaza, often killing women and children. Early Thursday, medics said an Israeli airstrike on a house in the southern Gaza town of Rafah killed 16 people, half of them children.
Israel blames Hamas for the high number of civilian deaths because it fights in densely populated residential areas. Israel says its forces have killed about 9,000 militants, without providing evidence, and that 193 of its own soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive in Gaza began.
On Thursday, the Israeli army said it had destroyed “the heart” of Hamas' weapons industry near a key north-south road in the center of the Gaza Strip. The complex included weapons factories and an extensive network of tunnels used to transport weapons across Gaza.
The war reverberates throughout the region
The war has spread across the Middle East, with Iranian-backed groups attacking U.S. and Israeli targets. Low-intensity fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon threatens to erupt into all-out war, and Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to attack international shipping despite U.S.-led airstrikes.
The Israeli military said it fired an interceptor at a “suspicious aerial target” – likely a drone or missile – approaching over the Red Sea on Thursday, triggering air raid sirens in the southern city of Eilat. The Houthis have fired drones and missiles at Israel, most of which missed or were intercepted and shot down.
Meanwhile, Iran launched a series of rocket attacks on what it said was an Israeli spy base in Iraq and militant bases in Syria.
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Jobain reported from Rafah in the Gaza Strip and Jeffery reported from London. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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