Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday announced again that Israel has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza and would not end the war before destroying Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that the territory would not present a threat to Israel.
The prime minister also repeated his vow to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
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.
Photo: AP
The prime minister spoke after Israeli strikes killed more than 90 people in 48 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday.
Israeli troops have been increasing their attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.
Children and women were among the 15 people killed overnight, hospital staff said.
Photo: AP
At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them in a tent in the Muwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are staying, hospital workers said.
Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone.
Mourners cradled and kissed the faces of the dead. A man stroked a child’s forehead with his finger before body bags were closed.
“Omar is gone... I wish it was me,” one brother cried out.
Four other people were killed in strikes in Rafah, including a mother and her daughter, said the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a group of civilians west of Nuseirat in central Gaza killed one person, Al-Awda Hospital said.
Israel’s military in a statement said it killed more than 40 militants over the weekend.
Separately, it said a soldier was killed on Saturday in northern Gaza and confirmed it was the first soldier death since Israel resumed the war on March 18.
Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy indefinitely large “security zones” inside the small coastal strip of more than 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 UN.
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