A day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorise the military to mount a major operation to seize Gaza City, Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that it could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas largely reduced to rubble earlier in the war.
A Palestinian girl waits at a community kitchen before donated food is distributed in Gaza City. (Picture: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
He restated Israel’s ceasefire demands: the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament.
Hamas issued a statement that called Katz’s comments “a confession of committing a crime that amounts to ethnic cleansing.”
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, expressed frustration with Hamas, suggesting the militant group was less interested in making deals to release hostages with so few left alive in captivity.
Netanyahu on Thursday said he had instructed officials “to begin immediate negotiations” to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms.
With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the wide-scale operation in Gaza City could start within days.
The city is also home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, some of whom have fled from other areas, and it contains some of the territory’s critical infrastructure and health facilities.
The proposal calls for a phased deal involving hostage and prisoner exchanges and a pullback of Israeli troops, while talks continue on a longer-term ceasefire.
Many Israelis fear an assault could doom the roughly 20 hostages who have survived captivity since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.
“These two things — defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages — go hand in hand,” Netanyahu said on Thursday while touring a command centre in southern Israel.
Netanyahu’s office denounced the IPC report as “an outright lie.”
Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said at least 17 Palestinians were killed on Friday, as Israel escalated activity in the lead-up to its broader planned offensive.
With additional reporting from AP
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