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Netanyahu rejects calls for ceasefire and resignation as he calls war against Hamas ‘battle of civilization against barbarians’
TEL AVIV (JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza increases the chance that hostages will be freed, and rejected calls for a ceasefire in the country’s war against Hamas, which he called “a battle of civilization against barbarians.”
In a statement Monday evening followed by a brief question-and-answer period with foreign reporters, Netanyahu also blamed the war’s mounting death toll on Hamas, the terror group that governs the Gaza Strip. And he said he would not resign despite dismal poll numbers.
“I want to make clear Israel’s position regarding the ceasefire: just as the United States would not agree to a ceasefire after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or after the terrorist attack of 9-11, Israel will not agree to a cessation of hostilities with Hamas after the horrific attacks of October 7,” Netanyahu said at the press conference at the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv. “Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism.”
The press conference occurred days after the Israel Defense Forces expanded a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, which killed 1,400 and wounded thousands. Hamas terrorists also took some 240 captives in the invasion.
Israel subsequently declared war on Hamas, and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli strikes have killed more than 8,000 people. Hamas has also shot thousands of rockets at cities across Israel.
In response to a question about the civilian death toll in Gaza, Netanyahu claimed that “not a single civilian has to die.” He said Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza because it fires at Israel and has its command centers in civilian areas, and prevents civilians from fleeing. He added that Israel told residents of the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate to the southeastern part of the territory, where he said there is a “safe zone.” There have been IDF airstrikes in southern Gaza as well.
“Hamas is preventing them from leaving, keeping them in the areas of conflict,” Netanyahu said. “We’re going out of our way to prevent civilian casualties, not only by asking civilians to move, calling them to move, arranging a place for them to be, which is safe — also putting in humanitarian support.”
He added however, that “even the most just war” leads to the death of innocent civilians, citing the case of a British warplane that targeted the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen during World War II but accidentally struck a school, killing children. (Netanyahu inaccurately stated that the plane accidentally hit a children’s hospital.)
Domestically, Netanyahu is facing pressure from families of those taken hostage by Hamas to agree to a large-scale prisoner exchange to secure their freedom. He said on Monday that he and the rest of Israel’s leadership believes that the ground invasion may push Hamas to free the hostages. Israeli forces rescued one hostage soldier on Sunday, and Hamas has released four others. More than 200 remain.
“The ground action actually creates the possibility, not the certainty, but the possibility of actually getting our hostages out,” he said. “Hamas will not do it unless they’re under pressure. They simply will not do it. They only do it under pressure. This creates pressure.”
Wearing a long sleeve black button-down shirt — his standard attire in public appearances since Oct. 7 — Netanyahu also addressed a question regarding calls for his resignation. A majority of Israelis, according to a recent poll, want him to resign after the war, while another poll showed that only 28% believe he’s the best person to lead the country in a head-to-head matchup with centrist Benny Gantz.
He also received flak for a recent social media post, which he later deleted and apologized for, that placed blame for the Oct. 7 massacre on Israel’s military and intelligence chiefs.
“The only thing I intend to have resigned is Hamas,” he said. “We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history. That’s my goal, that’s my responsibility and that’s what I’m leading the country to do.”
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The post Netanyahu rejects calls for ceasefire and resignation as he calls war against Hamas ‘battle of civilization against barbarians’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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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.”
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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.
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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.