(Reuters)-Israel will take more territory in Gaza and fight until Hamas is exterminated if the Palestinian militant group continues to refuse to release the remaining hostages, said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday (25).
He spoke as the mediators continued their efforts to save the Gaza ceasefire agreement, destroyed by the renewal of the Israel Air War on March 18, after the country and Hamas did not reach an agreement on the terms for the extension of the two-month truce.
Israel said that he will never accept Hamas’s government and military power in Gaza after the transfronical attack of the militants on October 7, 2023, which led to the Gaza War.
The Israeli military said last week that their forces had started a terrestrial operation concentrated in the center and southern of the Gaza strip after resuming the besieged bombing that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal of the new campaign is to force Islamic militants to release the remaining hostages.
“If Hamas continues with its intransigence, it will pay a high price, louder and higher, by taking territory (by Israel) and the elimination of militants and terrorist infrastructure to their full surrender,” Katz said in a video released by Israeli media.
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The latest offensive has been among the deadliest since the beginning of the conflict 17 months ago, and interrupted an unstable ceasefire that prevailed in large part since it came into force on January 19.
Hamas still holds 59 hostages, and it is believed that 24 are still alive, among the more than 250 that were seized in their attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Most of the others were released, or their bodies were delivered in traded exchanges.
The subsequent military attack of Israel Gaza killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health run by Hamas.
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(Report by Jana Choukeir and Menna Alaa El Din)
