Netanyahu says Israel has ‘no choice’ but to continue fighting in Gaza
Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to intensify pressure on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group rejected a proposal for another temporary truce.
The Israeli prime minister said in a late-night televised address that while war came with a heavy price, Israel had “no choice but to continue fighting for our very existence, until victory.”
Israel abandoned a ceasefire last month after seeking to extend a temporary truce that had seen 38 hostages released. Egyptian mediators have been working to restore the ceasefire.
However, Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages under a deal that ends the 17-month war. Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
Israel has pounded Gaza with air strikes since the ceasefire collapsed. Palestinian health authorities said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in strikes on Saturday.
Since renewing its attacks, Israel has seized swathes of Gaza and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate in what Palestinians fear is a step towards permanently depopulating swathes of land. The Gaza health ministry says 1,600 people have been killed in the past month.
Palestinian health officials said the military had escalated its strikes across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 92 people in the past 48 hours.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Mr Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ 7 October attack on southern Israel in 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
