Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has no plans to resign, despite a public uproar over the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas raid that killed over 1,400 Israelis and sparked the current Israel-Hamas war. Netanyahu was asked at a news conference Monday if he has considered stepping down.
Quick Read
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu states he won’t resign despite public outrage over the Oct. 7 Hamas raid.
- Netanyahu rejects the idea of a cease-fire and blames Hamas for the high death toll in Gaza.
- The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has risen to 8,306.
- Over 110 Palestinians have died in the occupied West Bank due to violence and Israeli raids.
- Israel announces the release of a female soldier captured by Hamas during the Oct. 7 incursion.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz holds Hamas accountable for the death of German-Israeli dual citizen Shani Louk and others.
- The Israeli-Hamas conflict has intensified the situation in Syria, making it increasingly dangerous.
- U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, warns of potential wider escalation in Syria.
- U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urges Syria to curb the activities of Iran-backed militias and cease escalatory actions.
- Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia condemns Israeli and U.S. strikes in Syria as violations of Syrian sovereignty.
The Associated press has the story:
Netanyahu says he has no plans to resign, won’t agree to a ceasefire
Newslooks- TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has no plans to resign, despite a public uproar over the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas raid that killed over 1,400 Israelis and sparked the current Israel-Hamas war.
Netanyahu was asked at a news conference Monday if he has considered stepping down.
“The only thing that I intend to have resigned is Hamas. We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s my responsibility.”
Netanyahu also said he would not agree to a cease-fire, saying it would be tantamount “to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.”
He said Hamas was responsible for the high death toll in Gaza, accusing the group of using civilians as human shields.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,306, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.
ISRAEL SAYS FEMALE SOLDIER CAPTURED DURING HAMAS ASSAULT HAS BEEN RELEASED
JERUSALEM — Israel says a female soldier captured by Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 incursion has been released during Israel’s ground operations in Gaza. The military provided few details, but she appears to be the first captive to be freed since Israel stepped up its ground war. The military says Private Ori Megidish “was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.”
GERMAN CHANCELLOR SAYS HAMAS MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR DEATH OF GERMAN-ISRAELI CITIZEN AND OTHERS
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Hamas must be held accountable for the death of German-Israeli dual citizen Shani Louk and others killed by the militant group in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“The news of Shani Louk’s death is terrible,” Scholz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Like many others, she was brutally murdered. This shows the full barbarity behind the Hamas attack — who must be held accountable.”
Louk’s mother told German news agency dpa earlier Monday that she had been informed by the Israeli military of the death of her 22-year-old daughter, who had been missing since the attack.
“This is terror, and Israel has the right to defend itself,” Scholz wrote.
UN SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA WARNS OF ‘POTENTIAL WIDER ESCALATION’
UNITED NATIONS — The Israeli-Hamas conflict has spilled into Syria which is now “at its most dangerous situation for a long time,” fueled by growing instability and violence and a lack of progress toward a political solution to its 12-year conflict, the U.N. special envoy for the country says.
Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council Monday he was “sounding an alarm” that the Syrian people now face “a terrifying prospect of a potential wider escalation.” He pointed to airstrikes attributed to Israel hitting Aleppo and Damascus airports several times and U.S. retaliation against what it says are multiple attacks on its forces by groups the U.S. “claims are backed by Iran, including on Syrian territory.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused “terrorist groups,” some backed by Syria and Iran, of threatening to expand the Gaza conflict “by using Syrian territory to plot and launch attacks against Israel.”
“We call on the regime to curb the activities of Iran-backed militias in Syria, stop the flow of foreign arms and fighters through its territory, and cease escalatory actions in the Golan Heights,” she said, warning that the United States will continue to respond to attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in Syria “or against U.S. interests.”
Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia of Russia, Syria’s closest ally, accused Israeli forces of striking sites in Syria, including civilian airports, and called U.S. attacks in the country “illegitimate actions” and “a gross violation of Syria’s sovereignty.”
