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Netanyahu says Israel must complete defeat of Hamas to free hostages

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel must “complete” the defeat of Hamas in Gaza to secure the release of the remaining hostages, days ahead of a cabinet meeting to discuss an updated war plan.Recent footage of weak and emaciated captives has sparked outrage in Israel, while UN experts also warn of an unfolding famine for Palestinians in Gaza.Israeli media have said the premier is considering ordering the total occupation of Gaza, even as international pressure mounts for him to end the war, with a senior UN official warning Tuesday that expanding the fighting risked “catastrophic consequences”.”It is necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, to free all our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said during a visit to an army training facility.His office later said he had held a three-hour “security discussion” with army chief Eyal Zamir, but did not disclose any new war plans.The premier’s office has said the security cabinet will convene later in the week to approve new instructions.Citing cabinet members, public broadcaster Kan said Netanyahu had “decided to extend the fight to areas where hostages might be held”.But some major media outlets such as Channel 12 have suggested that the rumoured expansion of operations might only be a negotiating tactic.While the reported plan has not been approved, it has already drawn angry reactions from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza’s Hamas-run government.Hamas insisted such a move would not shift its position in ceasefire talks, demanding the withdrawal of all forces from Gaza.”The ball is in the hands of… (Israel) and the Americans,” senior Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP, adding that the militant group wanted to “end the war and the famine”.UN assistant secretary-general Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Tuesday that a widening of the war “would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages”.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was also in New York attending a Security Council meeting on the plight of the hostages.US President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed disgust over the videos released by Hamas, one of which showed an emaciated Israeli hostage purportedly digging his own grave.”I hope a lot of people do get to see it, as bad as it is, because I think it’s a horrible thing,” Trump told reporters.- ‘Agreement must be reached’ -Over the war’s 22 months, Israeli forces have devastated large parts of the Gaza Strip, where a humanitarian crisis has taken hold.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.Palestinian militants also seized 251 hostages, 49 of whom remain held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,020 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.Netanyahu has faced growing pressure on several fronts. Domestically, families of hostages are demanding a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home.And around the world, there are increasing calls for a truce to allow food into a starving Gaza.The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday said it was “ready to bring in medicine, food and family news for the hostages in Gaza”, and to “scale up the delivery of life-saving aid safely to civilians”.But “to do this, an agreement must be reached between Israel and Hamas.”Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners demand to keep fighting and reoccupy Gaza for the long haul, after Israel withdrew settlers and troops stationed there two decades ago.- Aid ‘exploited’ -Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza in early March, which it only began easing more than two months later to allow a US-backed private agency, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to open food distribution centres.United Nations special rapporteurs called on Tuesday for the GHF to be immediately dismantled, saying aid was being “exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas”.COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said it would partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza to reduce its reliance on aid deliveries.On the ground in Gaza, the civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 56 Palestinians who were waiting near aid distribution sites on Tuesday.The Israeli military told AFP troops had “fired warning shots” in the direction “a gathering of Gazans advancing” towards them near one of those sites, in the territory’s south, but that it was “not aware of any casualties”.In northern Gaza, where the civil defence said 20 people were killed not far from an aid crossing, an AFP journalist saw bodies brought to Hamad Hospital.The army told AFP it was looking into the report.dc-hba-gla-lba/ami/smw/gv/bgs

Lebanon plans to disarm Hezbollah by year end

Lebanon’s cabinet on Tuesday tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by year end, an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.The thorny decision follows heavy US pressure and comes as part of implementing a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah including two months of all-out war.The cabinet held a nearly six-hour cabinet session on Tuesday headed by President Joseph Aoun on disarming the group, which emerged badly weakened from the latest war, with its arsenal pummelled and its senior leadership decimated.The Iran-backed group is the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, doing so in the name of “resistance” against Israel, which occupied the country’s south until 2000.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the government “tasked the Lebanese army with setting an implementation plan to restrict weapons” to the army and other state forces “before the end of this year”.The plan is to be presented to the cabinet by the end of August for discussion and approval, Salam told a press conference after the marathon session.Under the ceasefire, government authorities including the army and internal security forces should be the exclusive bearers of weapons in Lebanon.The cabinet is to continue discussions this week on a proposal from US envoy Tom Barrack that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament.- Timetable -Information Minister Paul Morcos said Hezbollah-affiliated Health Minister Rakan Nassereldine and Environment Minister Tamara Elzein, who is affiliated with its ally the Amal movement, “withdrew from the session because they did not agree with the cabinet decision”.Long the strongest political force in Lebanon — with detractors accusing it of using the threat of its weaponry to impose its will on domestic decisions — Hezbollah has also seen that influence diminish since the conflict.The group’s chief Naim Qassem, in a televised address while the cabinet meeting was underway, said it would not disarm while Israeli attacks continue.”Any timetable presented for implementation under… Israeli aggression cannot be agreed to,” he said.Israel has kept up raids on Lebanon despite the November truce, mostly saying it is striking Hezbollah targets, and has threatened to keep doing so until the group has been disarmed.On Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike in Brital in the country’s east killed one person.”Are we being asked to engage in dialogue, or to surrender our weapons without dialogue?” Qassem said.Hezbollah supporters on mopeds and motorbikes roamed Beirut’s southern suburbs where the group enjoys strong support, brandishing the party’s yellow flag and pictures of its leaders, an AFP photographer said.- ‘Dictates’ -Qassem criticised the US envoy’s plan on disarming the group.”Whoever looks at the deal Barrack brought doesn’t find an agreement but dictates,” he said, arguing that “it removes the strength and capabilities of Hezbollah and Lebanon entirely.”Last month, Barrack urged Lebanon to “act now” to impose a state weapons monopoly.A Lebanese official with knowledge of the talks told AFP on condition of anonymity that Hezbollah will not surrender its weapons “without something in return — the Americans know this well”.Aoun last week said Lebanon was committed to removing “weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah” and seeing them surrendered to Lebanon’s army.Lebanon is at “a crucial stage” and must choose “between collapse and stability”, Aoun had said.The international community has linked its support for the crisis-hit country to disarming the group, while Washington has failed to provide guarantees it will prevent Israel from attacking Lebanon.Qassem warned Israel against launching any new “large-scale aggression” because “if it does, Hezbollah will go on the defensive, “and this defence will lead to rockets falling inside the Israeli entity”.Before discussing the fate of its weapons, which it considers a matter of domestic defence strategy, Hezbollah has demanded that reconstruction of areas destroyed during the war begin.It has also demanded that Israel stop its attacks, withdraw from five border areas it has occupied since the war and release Lebanese prisoners.Ahead of the cabinet meeting, David Wood from the International Crisis Group said the militant group could apply pressure by objecting officially or encourage its supporters to demonstrate but a domestic confrontation was “not in Hezbollah’s interest”.