Deir Al-Bala, Gaza Strip (AP)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel “has no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza and will not end the war before the destruction of Hamas, the liberation of the hostages and ensure that the region will not represent a threat to Israel.
The Prime Minister also repeated his pledge to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu is exposed to increasing pressure at home not only from the families of the hostages and their supporters, but also from the retired Israeli soldiers and soldiers who question the continuation of the war after Israel from the ceasefire last month. In his statement, he claimed that Hamas rejected Israel’s recent proposal to liberate half of the hostages to a ceasefire.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Saturday that the Prime Minister spoke after Israeli strikes killed more than 90 people in 48 hours. The Israeli forces have increased their attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.
Children and women were among the 15 people who were killed overnight, according to hospital staff. Hospital workers said that at least 11 people were in the southern city of Khan Yunis, many of them in a tent in the Moasi area, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people remain. Israel has defined this as a humanitarian area.
The mourners kissed the faces of the dead. A man’s cheese hit the child with his finger before closing the body bags.
“Omar went … I hope I am,” one of the brother shouted.
Four other people were killed in strikes in the city of Rafah, including the mother and daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli air raid killed a group of civilians west of Noussa in central Gaza, one person, according to Al -Woudi Hospital.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it had killed more than 40 militants during the weekend.
Separately, the army said that the soldier was killed on Saturday in northern Gaza and confirmed that it was the first death of a soldier since Israel resumed the war on March 18. The armed wing in Hamas, the end of Qassam, said it was an ambush by the Israeli forces operating in eastern Gaza, the city of children.
Israel pledged to intensify attacks throughout Gaza and occupy large “security areas” indefinitely inside the small coastal strip of more than 2 million people. Hamas wants the Israeli forces to withdraw from the region.
Israel has also banned Gaza over the past six weeks, with the exception of entering food and other commodities.
This week, stimulant relief groups sparked, saying that thousands of children have become malnutrition, and most people barely eat one meal daily while stocks diminish, according to the United Nations.
On Friday, Dr. Hanan Balkayi, head of the World Health Organization office in the eastern Mediterranean, urged the new American ambassador to Israel, to push the country to raise the siege of Gaza so that it could enter medicines and other aid.
She said, “I hope he enters and sees the situation directly.”
The war started when fighters led by Hamas, southern Israel, attacked on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped 251. Most of the hostages were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
Since then, the Israeli attack has been killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The war destroyed large parts of Gaza and most of the abilities of food production. About 90 % of the population is candidates, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tents and buildings that have been bombed.
The frustration was growing on both sides, with rare public protests against Hamas in Gaza and the continuation of weekly gatherings in Israel, which is pressing the government to reach an agreement to give all hostages to the home.
Thousands of Israelis joined the protests on Saturday night by pressing a deal.
“Do what you had to do a long time ago. I all return them now! In one deal. And if this means stopping the war, then stop the war,” this is what the former Omer Shem Tov said in a rally in Tel Aviv.
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Maggie mentioned from Cairo and Federman from Jerusalem. Jamey Keater in Geneva contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP war coverage on https://appnyws.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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This story corrected the day the World Health Organization made official comments.