Netanyahu tells US Republicans Gaza war will continue

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Republican senators that Israel will continue its efforts to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, senators have told reporters after he addressed a party lunch.

“He’s going to do what he said he’s going to do. He’s going to finish it,” Senator Jim Risch said.

The Israeli leader spoke to Republicans via videolink nearly a week after the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, gave a speech in the Senate harshly criticising Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and urging new elections in Israel.

Netanyahu has long been aligned with US Republicans, who accused Schumer of seeking to “overthrow” the Israeli leader.

“We asked… him for an update and we got it on the war, on the release of the hostages and in the efforts to defeat Hamas. We told him Israel has every right to defend themselves and he said that’s exactly what they continue to do,” Senator John Barrasso said.

Democratic leaders have been grappling with divisions in their party over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza five months into a war that began with attacks on Israel by Hamas militants on October 7.

A representative for Schumer said that Netanyahu had offered to speak to the Democrats as well but Schumer declined, saying that the conversations should not be partisan.

“I care deeply about Israel and its long term future. When you make the issue partisan, you hurt the cause of helping Israel,” Schumer told reporters.

Progressives have called on Democratic President Joe Biden to put more pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where aid groups warn of famine and US officials say more than 30,000 civilians have been killed.

Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Netanyahu had addressed civilian casualties and the need to get more aid into Gaza.

He said Netanyahu was “very supportive” of plans to build a temporary pier and bring in aid by sea.

“He’s very sensitive to the fact that every civilian casualty is a very unfortunate event,” Risch said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Netanyahu had made a presentation and then taken questions from senators.

“I made it clear to him, that it’s not the business of the United States to be giving a democratic ally advice about when to have an election or what kind of military campaign they may be conducting,” McConnell told reporters.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that Israel’s response to the group’s latest Gaza ceasefire proposal was negative after mediators handed it over.

“On Tuesday evening, our brothers, the mediators, informed us of the occupation’s position on the proposal … it is a negative response in general and does not respond to the demands … In fact, it retracts the approvals it previously provided to the mediators,” Osama Hamdan told a press conference in Beirut.

He said Netanyahu and his government were responsible for the failure to negotiate a hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and stop the fighting in Gaza.

Talks on a ceasefire have resumed this week in Qatar but weeks of negotiations have so far failed to produce an agreement between Israel and Hamas.