RSS
Destroy Hamas, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace in Wall Street Journal op-ed
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his preconditions for peace with Gaza in a Monday op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, saying, “Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized.”
“These are the three prerequisites for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote.
The outline for a peace agreement came as Israel pushed its ground offensive farther into Gaza in its campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorist group. The counter-offensive sparked by the Oct. 7 atrocities against Israelis has caused widespread destruction and suffering in Gaza, and continues amid mounting international pressure for a ceasefire.
Netanyahu said in his op-ed that international allies including the U.S., U.K., France and Germany back Israel’s campaign to destroy Hamas by dismantling its military capabilities and political rule over Gaza. Since Hamas’s leaders have vowed to repeat the Oct. 7 massacres, he argued, the group’s continued existence will lead to more war.
The Israeli leader, who visited soldiers in northern Gaza Monday after a weekend in which 17 soldiers were killed, said Gaza needed to be demilitarized to prevent future attacks, and that disarmament will require a temporary security zone on the border and inspections on Gaza’s border with Egypt to prevent weapons smuggling.
Netanyahu dismissed calls to involve the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s demilitarization, saying the P.A. “glorifies terrorism” and was unwilling and unable to disarm Hamas. He lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning the Oct. 7 attack.
Hamas seized power in Gaza in a bloody 2007 coup, leaving the P.A. in control of the West Bank. The P.A. is more moderate and secular than Hamas, and has long cooperated with Israel on security, including by cracking down on Hamas operatives in the West Bank. The P.A. has a contentious relationship with Israel, which has complained that Ramallah pays stipends to terrorists and their families. Abbas is also deeply unpopular in the West Bank, and is 88 years old, with no clear successor.
The Biden administration has called for the P.A.’s participation in rebuilding Gaza after the war. Netanyahu’s op-ed also did not mention a Palestinian state, another priority for the United States, a key backer of Israel’s war effort.
“For the foreseeable future Israel will have to retain overriding security responsibility over Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote.
For deradicalization, Netanyahu called for changes to Palestinian school curricula, civil society and religious sermons. He compared his deradicalization goals to the process that took place in Germany and Japan after World War II.
“Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is demilitarized and Palestinian society begins a deradicalization process, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects of a broader peace in the Middle East will become a reality,” Netanyahu wrote.
The op-ed did not mention the hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7. During the terror onslaught in southern Israel, attackers killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages, the majority of whom remain in captivity.
Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, on Monday vowed to continue fighting Israel.
Israel pressed farther into Gaza this week, including in the area of the southern city of Khan Younis, thought to be home to some of Hamas’ top leadership, who have eluded Israeli forces.
Fighting also continued in northern Gaza, despite the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that it was mostly in control of the area.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi warned on Tuesday that the Gaza campaign will continue for months, amid mounting international pressure to end the violence. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says more than 20,000 people have been killed. The figure is not verifiable and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The IDF on Tuesday evening said three soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the military toll since the start of the campaign to 161.
—
The post Destroy Hamas, deradicalize the Palestinians: Netanyahu lays out preconditions for peace in Wall Street Journal op-ed appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.