12:42 p.m. ET, November 12, 2023
Netanyahu addressed calls for a ceasefire, Israel’s goals in Gaza and other key issues in an interview on Sunday
By CNN’s Radina Gigova and Niamh Kennedy: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on CNN Sunday that Hamas was only calling for humanitarian pauses in Gaza to end fighting against the group. Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash whether Israel would consider implementing longer pauses in fighting to allow the evacuation of more civilians from fighting hotspots in Gaza, Netanyahu said:
“This is not a break. When you talk about stopping the fighting, that’s exactly what Hamas wants. Hamas wants an endless series of pauses that will essentially diffuse the fight against them.”
Netanyahu also addressed other important war issues in the interview:
Netanyahu reiterated this Israel will not agree to a “ceasefire throughout the territory” of Gaza until all Israeli hostages are released.
He also outlined Israel’s main objectives in Gaza, saying they were:
- FirstDestroy Hamas so that it cannot carry out attacks like the one on October 7th again
- SecondThey are implementing “a superior and far-reaching Israeli military framework” to ensure that “terrorism” does not rise again after the war in Gaza.
- Third, Ensure that any civilian authority taking control of Gaza would agree to “demilitarization” and “de-radicalization” of the enclave.
He then accused the Palestinian Authority (PA), which formerly controlled Gaza and is based in the occupied West Bank, of failing “on both counts” and appeared to rule out a post-war role for the PA in Gaza – an idea US officials have hinted at would support it.
On the crisis at Al-Shifa Hospital: The prime minister claimed that the embattled Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, was being used as a Hamas command center and that civilians should be evacuated.
“There is no reason why we can’t just move the patients out of there instead of letting Hamas use it as a command center for terrorism,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister said Israel was helping patients “by creating safe corridors” for evacuation.
While the Israeli military said earlier on Sunday that such a corridor had been opened in the Al-Shifa area, the International Committee of the Red Cross said that no one had left this corridor. Heavy fighting near the medical center has created a “catastrophic situation” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to pick up the wounded and life support systems without power, Gaza health officials and aid groups report.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has described the situation as a “total siege” of the hospital.
About civilian casualties: Netanyahu said on Sunday that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza was being “reduced” because Israel was calling on civilians to move south.
“I think the number of civilian casualties is actually decreasing because people are heeding our calls to leave the area,” Netanyahu said.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive nearly a month ago, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said last week.
It is unclear how many combatants are included in the total. CNN cannot independently verify the figures released by the ministry in the Gaza Strip, which is sealed off from Israel and most of Egypt.