Israel PM: Ending war “would leave Hamas in power,” serve as victory for “entire axis of evil”

In a video address on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his rejection of demands from Hamas militants for Israel to end its war in Gaza and with an exchange of hostages. Netanyahu claimed that “capitulating to Hamas’s demands” — which are to remove all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and end the war — would “leave Hamas in power.” An idea, he said, “the State of Israel cannot accept.”