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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza. According to him, the war will only end when Israel achieves three main objectives.
Netanyahu stated that the fighting in Gaza depends on three goals: destroying Hamas, freeing all hostages, and ensuring that the enclave poses no threat to Israel in the future.
At least 92 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 others were injured in the past two days, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Israeli troops have increased their attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.
Netanyahu is facing growing pressure domestically from families of hostages, their supporters, and reservoir and retired Israeli soldiers, who question the continuation of the war after a ceasefire was broken last month.
Netanyahu also claimed that Hamas rejected Israel’s latest proposal to free half of the hostages for a prolonged ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire – brokered by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States – ended on 18 March, Israeli attacks across Gaza have resulted in the deaths of close to 1,800 people and the injury of 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. UN reports that women and children account for more than two-thirds of all deaths they have been able to verify.
In northern Gaza, Israeli forces struck a civilian area in the town of Beitol-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 providing shelter to displaced Palestinians, killing at least 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis.
According to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), one of its soldiers was killed and three others were seriously injured in the Beit Hanoun area, located in the northern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
The killed soldier was G’hleb Sliman Alnasasra, a 35-year-old tracker from the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel.
Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and indefinitely occupy large “security zones” inside the 2-million strong coastal strip. Hamas wants Israeli forces to leave the territory.
Israel has also blockaded Gaza for the past six weeks, preventing the entry of food and other goods.
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This week, aid groups raised the alarm, stating that thousands of children have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.
Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the head of the World Health Organisation’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, to pressure the country to lift the blockade to allow medicines and other aid to 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 hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, with 24 believed to be still alive.
