Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza. He also added that the war on the enclave will only end when three objectives are realised.
The Israeli premier says that fighting in Gaza is contingent upon successfully achieving three goals; destroying Hamas, freeing all the hostages and ensuring the enclave poses no threat to Israel in the future.
His comments came after at least 92 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 others were injured in the space of two days, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israeli troops have been increasing their attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.
Netanyahu is under growing pressure at home not only from families of hostages and their supporters but also from reservist and retired Israeli soldiers who question the continuation of the war after Israel shattered a ceasefire last month.
In his statement, he claimed that Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest proposal to free half the hostages for a continued ceasefire.
Since Israel ended the ceasefire – brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States – on 18 March, Israeli attacks across Gaza have claimed the lives of close to 1,800 people and wounded almost 4,700 more.
The death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 51,157, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. The UN says women and children accounted for more than two-thirds of all deaths they’ve been able to verify.
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces struck a civilian area in the town of Beit Lahia, killing at least four people.
In central Gaza, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israeli airstrikes hit tents sheltering displaced Palestinians, killing at least 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed and three others seriously injured in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
The killed soldier was G’haleb Sliman Alnasasra, a 35-year-old tracker from the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel, according to the statement.
He was the first Israeli soldier to be killed in Gaza since the resumption of Israeli military operations in Gaza last month.
Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy indefinitely large “security zones” inside the small coastal strip of over 2 million people. Hamas wants Israeli forces to withdraw from the territory.
Israel also has blockaded Gaza for the past six weeks, again barring the entry of food and other goods.
This week, aid groups raised the alarm, saying thousands of children have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.
The head of the World Health Organisation’s eastern Mediterranean office, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, urged the new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicines and other aid can enter.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of them are still believed to be alive.
