Qatar is exerting more and more pressure on Hamas to agree to a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told representatives of hostage families on Thursday.
Meeting with the families at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu revealed that "following Israeli work, we are seeing for the first time more pressure on Hamas from Qatar.
"I have been striving and pushing for this for a very long time," Netanyahu added.
The prime minister noted that Hamas has yet to issue an official answer on any of the outlines proposed to the Gazan terror group thus far.
"They are not in a rush to advance; they want to escalate tensions over Ramadan. That is what they are attempting, that is their goal....they are still holding onto unreasonable and unacceptable demands."
Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu rejected international pressure to prevent the IDF from entering Rafah in a statement made while visiting IDF soldiers.
Netanyahu visited the IDF Ofer base, meeting with commanders and soldiers from the 636th Field Intelligence Unit. There, he expressed his intentions to take the highly controversial military action.
"While the IDF is preparing to continue fighting in Rafah, we are facing international pressure to prevent us from entering the area and completing the job. As the prime minister of Israel, I will repel these pressures," he said,
"We will enter Rafah, and we complete our mission of eliminating Hamas to restore security for the people of Israel and bring complete victory to the country," Netanyahu continued.
Netanyahu's encouragement of continued action in Rafah
In addition to Netayahu's statements regarding the IDF's intention to continue fighting in Rafah, the prime minister also commented on the success of the IDF up until now during Israel's war against Hamas.
"We have been successfully fighting for five months already, and this is a record time in the history of Israel's wars," Netanyahu explained.
Recent IDF action in Rafah on Wednesday resulted in the killing of Muhammad Abu Hasna, a commander in Hamas’ Operations Unit. Hasna was killed in an IDF aircraft strike.
Hasna was involved in stealing humanitarian aid entering Gaza that was meant for Palestinian civilians and instead distributed it to other Hamas terrorists.
"I would like to thank you for your important part in this," Netanyahu concluded in his remarks to the soldiers. Thank you very much."