Ceasefire On the Destruction of Hamas

"[Guterres called for a] humanitarian ceasefire [in a letter to the Security Council, saying conditions in Gaza were fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole."

"The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

 

"I don't think any UN secretary-general in history has gone so far to secure the survival of a terrorist organization."

"This war will end when it is safe for the children of [the communities of] Be'eri and Nir Oz to sleep in their beds again."

"This war will end when the diplomats who voted to save Hamas's skin at the United Nations would feel safe babysitting little [four-year-old rescued hostage] Abigail Eden in Kfar Aza."

"Let's call it the diplomat babysitter test' for ending this war."

Eylon Levy, Israeli spokesman 

 

"Oslo was the mother of all sins."

"The difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is only that Hamas wants to destroy us here and now, and the P.A. wants to do it in stages."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli tanks operate in Gaza City, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, November 22, 2023.

(photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

There is no way the Palestinian Authority would be permitted by Israel to take over the rule of the Gaza Strip in the eventuality of the post-Hamas situation. Hamas obviously has little regard for what Israel thinks. Its leadership, far from the harm of IDF reprisals threat, safely ensconced in Qatar and Turkey, soon to move to Algeria, remains defiant. Israel and the United States, it posted, should not have any expectations of recovering additional hostages from Gaza alive "without exchange and negotiation".

 

Israel's government has no intention of bargaining with the terrorist group, as a much earlier government did with Yasser Arafat whose Palestinian Liberation Organizational wings like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Black September terrorists fully equalled Hamas in their lust for savagery unleashed on Israel and its population. Neither the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust-denier and inciter of Palestinian death squads and his 'pay-for-slay' program nor Hamas can be reasoned with.

 

On December 6, UN Chief Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter allowing him as secretary-general to bring issues he perceives as a threat to international security before the attention of the Security Council, calling for a "humanitarian ceasefire" which essentially means allowing the terrorists who committed the unspeakable on October 7 on defenceless civilians in southern Israel to rest, regroup, rearm, take stock and design new strategies of attack, including the opportunity for commanders of Hamas to continue leaving the territory on humanitarian aid trucks.

While ostensibly giving relief from constant bombardment to Palestinian civilians among whom Hamas has sited launch pads, stored ammunition, and given refuge to terrorists dressing as ordinary civilians, a ceasefire gives an enormous advantage to Hamas in delaying and interfering with the Israel Defense Forces' mission to destroy the terrorist group in its entirety; emasculating it while destroying its arms and centres of command and tunnel systems, deliberately placed in the very midst of crowded civilian enclaves.

What a ceasefire would accomplish, Israel points out, would be the disruption of its goal of eradicating Hamas from the Gaza Strip, leaving the group wounded but capable of recovering and resuming control of the enclave. While the United States vetoed the resolution, Britain abstained, and thirteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favour. "I greatly appreciate the correct stance that the U.S. has taken in the UN Security Council", stated Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, expressed appreciation as well to the United States for "standing firmly by our side and showing its leadership and values". There remain 137 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The total includes 117 men and 20 women; 125 of whom are Israeli citizens, and another 11 foreign nationals. Ten hostages are older than 75, two are children, both claimed by Hamas to have died while in their custody. Hamas murdered twenty of the hostages it abducted on October 7, refusing to release their bodies.

Some half of Hamas battalion and company commanders have been killed according to officials, while the top terrorist, Yahya Sinwar, remains at large, in charge. The Israel Defense Forces estimate that about 7,000 Hamas operatives of a force thought to number 40,000 have been killed in attacks. A direct appeal to Hamas operatives was made in a video, to abandon their leaders: "It's over. Don't die for Sinwar. Surrender now". And hundreds have been surrendering.

 

Israeli planes dropped seven tons of combat materiel to troops in Khan Younis in a joint operation of the Technology and Logistics Division and the Airborne Supply Unit of the High Altitude Brigade. The supplies delivered with the use of an IAF "Samson" Super Hercules C130J aircraft from Squadron 103. The "Guided Supply" advanced operational system was utilized for the first time, enabling the parachuting of equipment to precisely navigate to the target on the ground.

 

The Israeli war plan is moving toward its next phase after two months of air attacks and the huge ground operations; expected to centre on maintaining a militarized buffer zone around the enclave, sending units in for additional targeted raids.

 

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi meets with Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar in Khan Yunis. December 11, 2023.  (photo credit: IDF)

"It is shocking that while Hamas is firing rockets at Israel from population centres in southern Gaza, the UN is busy debating a distorted resolution that will enable Hamas terrorists to stay in power and does not condemn them."

"A ceasefire will be possible only with the return of all the hostages and the destruction of Hamas."

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan