JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said that a wave of deadly overnight strikes on Gaza was “only the beginning” of Israeli action in the Palestinian territory.
“Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you – and them – this is only the beginning,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.
“From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire,” he said, adding: “Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages”.
Tuesday’s strikes, by far the largest since a truce took effect in January, killed more than 400 people across the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Israel vowed to keep fighting until the return of all the hostages seized by Palestinian during the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Israeli strikes kill over 400 in Gaza, say Palestinians, ceasefire on brink
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas, which has not responded militarily so far, accused Israel of attempting to force it to “surrender”.
The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the strikes, while the families of Israeli hostages pleaded with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the violence, fearing for the fate of their loved ones.
During his evening address, Netanyahu denied accusations that the resumption of strikes in Gaza was driven by domestic political concerns.
“I hear the commentators spreading lies in the media, as if the IDF’s (military) recommendations and actions are driven by political considerations,” he said.
“They have no shame. They have no red lines. They simply echo Hamas propaganda time and time again,” he added.
Netanyahu’s critics accuse him of wanting to continue the war for his own political survival, without regard for the lives of hostages still held in Gaza.
The prime minister has so far refused to set up a national commission of inquiry into Hamas’s October 7 attack, while his bid to dismiss a top security official had threatened to plunge Israel back into deep political crisis.
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