Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, declared on Sunday that he will not bow down to international pressure to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
“No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel,” Netanyahu said at a government meeting.
“We must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them,” he added.
In recent days, top US officials, Israel's staunchest ally who has provided critical military and diplomatic support throughout the war, have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with Netanyahu and his administration, according to the ET report.
The Israeli Prime Minister mentioned that the pressure on Israel is centered on holding new elections in the country.
“They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. And they do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months,” he said, HT reports.
“If we stop the war now before all of its goals are achieved, it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that.”
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned Netanyahu's leadership on Thursday and urged Israel to conduct new elections. Netanyahu described Schumer's remarks as "totally inappropriate."
“You don’t do that to a sister democracy,” he added.
Turning back towards all international alerts, Netanyahu sanctioned military strategies on Friday for ground intervention in Rafah, where over 1.4 million individuals have sought shelter from Israel's continuing war in the Gaza Strip.
"We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen," Netanyahu said.