There will only be a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza Strip only after Hamas is gone, and there are no more hostage-taking incidents, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss told Manila Bulletin on Wednesday, Oct. 25, amid calls for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to stop its retaliatory attacks.

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss during a roundtable discussion with Manila Bulletin editors and reporters on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (Photo by Raymund Antonio/MANILA BULLETIN)

In a roundtable discussion, the envoy said Israel has “two goals” before a ceasefire becomes possible.

“The ceasefire is after we are able to get two goals of the war. Meaning, no more terror infrastructure targeting Israeli civilians and taking the hostages of all nationalities back home,” he told editors and senior reporters.

He justified the current pummeling of Gaza by the IDF because the Israeli government’s “number one” responsibility was “to protect civilians” and it takes measures to spare civilians from the violence.

“Number two, in all our attacks against the terror organization, against Hamas, we take a lot of measures to avoid any damage or casualties, that are the civilians. We do a lot of measures the IDF has taken to avoid those casualties,” Fluss added.

The envoy shared that just recently, there was a Hamas operative in Israel who was arrested. With that arrest, he said there is zero Hamas presence in Israel.

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel killed 1,400 Israelis, but Israel’s retaliation already topped 5,000 deaths, nearly half are children, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, reports said.

This has fostered conflict among world leaders and the global population, with some calling for a ceasefire and negotiations, while others backed Israel’s counter-attack against Hamas.

So far, four Filipinos have been killed in the war, one of them a nurse who refused to leave her ward’s side when the ambush by Hamas happened.

Together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Marcos administration has called for a ceasefire in the region and for all parties to ensure “the most effective and efficient access for humanitarian aid, and relief supplies and other basic necessities and essential services, as well as the restoration of electricity, water, and allow the unhindered delivery of fuel, food, and medicine throughout Gaza.”