WASHINGTON – Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said Wednesday he was surprised by calls from the White House for the Jewish state to “temporarily halt” its invasion of Gaza to allow the release of Hamas hostages – a demand echoed by President Biden Wednesday night.
“I don’t know what a temporary pause or humanitarian pause means,” Herzog told NewsNation’s “The Hill.” “People are talking about a truce. It will not happen because we will not stop our war effort to destroy the Hamas war machine.”
“We are in the middle of a war, and we need to end that war and make sure that Hamas cannot threaten us anymore,” Herzog added. “As we do it again, we have an obligation to provide humanitarian solutions on the ground. We’re doing it … I don’t know what a pause is.”
Hours later, Biden told a booing crowd at a Minnesota campaign reception that he supported a ceasefire even as Israeli forces besieged Gaza City in a campaign to oust jihadists from power in the Gaza Strip.
“I think we need a break. A pause means giving time to get prisoners out,” Biden told the detractors, without specifying how long he wanted the pause to be.
The White House’s chief foreign affairs spokesman, John Kirby of the National Security Council, has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying it would benefit Hamas after the group killed more than 1,400 people, including at least 33 Americans, in a Oct 7 surprise attacks on communities across southern Israel.
Israel’s Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog said he was puzzled by President Biden’s call for a “pause” in Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Herzog confirmed that a truce “is not going to happen.” AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool
Kirby reiterated that statement to reporters en route to Minnesota on Wednesday, saying: “A ceasefire now – a general and broad ceasefire now is not the right answer.”
“We continue to support the idea of a temporary pause in the fighting so that help can come in, people can come out, we can get our hostages out. We really think that’s an idea worth pursuing,” he added.
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“Now, there are many factors and many players who can put a pause, and we are working on that very, very hard.”
Palestinians search for survivors after an airstrike in the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on November 2, 2023. AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman Rescuers pull an injured boy out of the rubble after an airstrike. AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman
Earlier Wednesday, Biden announced that Hamas had agreed to allow about 400 Americans trapped in Gaza to leave via Egypt.
The terrorist group is also holding up to 10 US hostages taken from Israel, after freeing two American captives on Oct. 20.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
