HAMAS SUGGESTS 135-DAY TRUCE, HOSTAGE DEAL; ISRAEL SAYS NO

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas demands for a cease-fire and vowed to press ahead with Israel's military offensive in Gaza until achieving "absolute victory." Netanyahu made the comments Wednesday shortly after meeting the visiting U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who has been traveling the region in hopes of securing a cease-fire agreement.

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"We are on the way to an absolute victory," Netanyahu said, adding that the operation would last months, not years. "There is no other solution." He ruled out any arrangement that leaves Hamas in full or partial control of Gaza. He also said that Israel is the "only power" capable of guaranteeing security in the long term.

Hamas had proposed a ceasefire to quiet the guns in Gaza for four-and-a-half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war.

The Hamas offer, the contents of which were first reported by Reuters, is a response to an earlier proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs and delivered to Hamas last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

A source close to the negotiations said the Hamas counterproposal did not require a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire at the outset, but that an end to the war would have to be agreed before final hostages were freed.