As an Israel-Hamas ceasefire went into effect on Friday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen vowed the Israeli side would resume military operations in the Gaza Strip as soon as the release of hostages stops.
“Israel will continue its war on Hamas, and we will not stop until we achieve our two main goals, overthrowing the rule of Hamas and returning all the abductees back to us, safe and sound,” Mr. Cohen said as he toured Israel’s borders with his counterparts from Portugal and Slovenia on Friday.
Mr. Cohen’s remarks on Friday reiterate those made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant upon reaching an agreement with Hamas for a brief pause in the fighting to allow for the limited prisoner exchange.
The pause in fighting is tentatively set to last four days, with Israel agreeing to release 150 Palestinian prisoners over the course of four days, in exchange for Hamas releasing 50 of the approximately 240 hostages they took during their Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. The Israeli side has agreed to extend the ceasefire period by one day for every 10 additional hostages released from the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Netanyahu and other members of his cabinet have vowed to completely eliminate Hamas after Hamas gunmen breached the Israel-Gaza barrier and killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, setting off the current conflict.
“Citizens of Israel, I want to be clear—the war is continuing. The war is continuing,” Mr. Netanyahu said upon announcing the prisoner exchange this week. “We will continue until we achieve all of our goals: Return all of the hostages, eliminate Hamas, and ensure that on the day after Hamas, no element that supports terrorism, educates its children for terrorism, and pays terrorists or their families, will control Gaza.”
Mr. Cohen chose to reiterate this vow to eliminate Hamas around the same time the Israeli and Hamas sides exchanged their first round of prisoners on Friday evening. The Israeli side released 39 prisoners, including 24 women and 15 teenage boys they had previously detained, while the Hamas side released 13 women and children they had taken on Oct. 7.
Israel Faces International Pressure Over Gaza Battle
Mr. Cohen’s vow that Israeli forces would continue to hunt down Hamas members in the Gaza Strip also comes as an indication that the Israeli side will not allow the international community to use the temporary ceasefire as an opening to push for an end to the war.
In a Thursday meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the Israeli side “has the right to self-defense, but must respect international law and humanitarian law.” Mr. Sánchez further urged an international peace conference on the Israel-Hamas conflict and for efforts to finalize a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
During that same Thursday meeting, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo also raised concerns that thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the ongoing fighting and that around 1.5 million Gazans have been internally displaced within the confined territory and called for the “political courage” to avoid a protracted conflict with Hamas.
“We hope that in the next days, this humanitarian ceasefire is the first step, and we hope that it is the first step in the future for a negotiated peace,” Mr. De Croo said.
On Friday, Mr. Cohen said the Israeli side condemns the “false claims” of the Spanish and Belgian Prime Ministers “who give support to terrorism.” The Israeli Foreign Minister said he summoned the Spanish and Belgian ambassadors in Israel to his office to further rebuke the comments of their respective governments.
“Israel is acting according to international law and fighting a murderous terrorist organization worse than ISIS that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mr. Cohen said. “We will resume fighting after the ceasefire until the elimination of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip and the release of all the abductees.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
