ISRAEL WON’T STOP UNTIL HAMAS DESTROYED

Jerusalem: The Israeli prime minister has insisted that the war on Hamas would be a “long campaign”, rejecting reports that generals could wind down the operation in Gaza before achieving all of its aims.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would not give in to the “winds of defeatism”.

The comments come after media quoted Israeli officials as saying top generals see a truce as the best way to secure the release of remaining 116 hostages, even if that means not achieving all of the war goals.

“I am here to make it unequivocally clear: This will not happen,” Netanyahu said.

After the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Netanyahu’s right-wing government vowed to destroy the Palestinian militant group’s capabilities and return all hostages.

The comments came as French President Emmanuel Macron urged Netanyahu in a phone call to prevent a “conflagration” between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, and to refrain from any “new operation” in Gaza near Rafah or Khan Yunis, “which would only aggravate the human toll and a humanitarian situation that is already catastrophic”.

UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag said 1.9 million people – 80 per cent of the territory’s population – were now displaced, and she was “deeply concerned” by ­reports of new evacuation ­orders for Khan Yunis.

“Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been plunged into an abyss of suffering. The war has not merely created the most profound of humanitarian crises. It has unleashed a maelstrom of human misery,” Kaag said.