New Delhi:
The military campaign will continue in Gaza till there is a Gaza free of Hamas, Israeli Ambassador Reuven Azar told NDTV World today. The 42-day temporary ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is now over and Hamas has gone back on its promise of releasing the hostages kidnapped by the terrorist organisation. This, Mr Azar said, is a violation of the agreement, and hence, left Israel with no option but to resort to military pressure.
“There can be a peace today, if Hamas agrees and abides by the conditions set out for it,” said Mr Azar explaining that the two main conditions include freeing all the remaining hostages and never to be able to arm itself to launch terrorist attacks on Israel.
But Hamas doesn’t want peace, he told NDTV World, citing the decision not to release the hostages. “Hamas has rejected to proposals of the American mediator time and again. It simply refuses to release the hostages. There is no option left for Israel now, but to resort to military pressure.”
“Military pressure is effective and works,” he said, adding that “It is because of military pressure that 195 of the 254 hostages have been released in the first place.”
The United States has “fully backed Israel” in its efforts to rout Gaza of any terrorist elements, and bringing lasting peace to the region both for Jews as well as Palestinians.
Israel, he said, will pursue its efforts to the desired outcome at any cost. “If a solution is not found diplomatically, then we shall achieve it militarily,” he said.
Reacting to condemnation globally, the Israeli Ambassador said, “Condemnations do not change facts. And the fact is that there is a terrorist organisation in the Gaza strip that continues to hold hostages. The hostages they are holding are not just those from Israel, but they are holding the entire Palestinian population hostage to its misdeeds.”
“Hamas is taking control of the aid being sent and is in turn selling them to Palestinian people. They are trying to extort the people with the hope of pushing Israel to a surrender. This is simply not going to happen. It is ridiculous,” he said, making Tel Aviv’s intentions clear.
Instead of condemning Israel, what we expect from a responsible international community is to “put pressure on Hamas, and help push for efforts to create peace in the region. They should do that diplomatically by getting the top brass of Hamas out of Gaza and give hope to the Palestinian people by encouraging a new and moderate Palestinian leadership – one that will allow Gaza to be reestablished and rebuilt for the betterment future of its people. Such peace is what is of common interest.”
“Anyone from the international community who says that military pressure should not be used is basically wanting Israel to surrender to a terrorist organisation that will continue to have a grip on Gaza forever. That cannot be acceptable,” he said.
The Ambassador said that “Hamas has to understand that its control of the Gaza strip is over. They will have to relinquish power at any cost. Israel will allow for them to peacefully leave Gaza forever, to give a chance to the Palestinian people to have a better future.”
“Hamas has now got only two options – One is to return to the diplomatic table in a constructive way and accept the terms. That will stop the military campaign. The other option is for them not to cooperate. What that will do is leave Israel with the option for a ground invasion throughout Gaza in order to completely clean it out of all terror elements linked to Hamas and then transfer authority of Gaza to a new moderate Palestinian leadership and to responsible international stakeholders who will help bring peace and prosperity in Gaza.”
“Israel has the resolution and the resilience to do this, but I want to make it clear that we would prefer taking the first option – of diplomacy and dialogue. We will resort to option two only if Hamas refuses to cooperate.”
The Israeli Ambassador concluded by saying that “In this holy month of Ramadan (Ramzan), more than 75,000 Muslims come every single day to pray in the holy city of Jerusalem in Israel. We have always supported religious freedom. It is the terrorists who we go after.”
Hamas still holds 59 Israeli hostages, which it has so far refused to release.
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