Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking today at a press conference, made it clear that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire, and labeled Hamas barbarians who want to “destroy everything we value and usher in a world of fear and darkness.”
“This is a turning point. A turning point for leaders and nations. It is time for all of us to decide whether we are ready to fight for a future full of hope and promise or surrender to tyranny and terror,” he said, according to Sky News.
The press conference was held after Hamas released a video showing three hostages captured on October 7. Netanyahu said that Israel will fight.
He said that a distinction should be made between “murders of innocents and unintended victims that accompany every legitimate war”.
He also stressed that Hamas will use human shields and hide in hospital basements, and that the group is “preventing civilians from leaving” areas that Israel has ordered evacuated.
Speaking of a cease-fire, he says Israel will not agree to it, just as the US would not agree to it after Pearl Harbor or 9/11.
“Israel will not agree to a ceasefire and considers such a thing to be an invitation to Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen,” he says.
“The Bible says there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is the time for war,” Netanyahu said in closing speech.
