Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday (19) that he instructed military personnel to intensify pressure on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group rejected an Israeli proposal from another temporary truce, requiring, instead, an agreement to end the war in exchange for hostage release.
In a televised speech, Netanyahu said that although war is high, Israel has no “another choice but to continue fighting for our own existence until victory.”
Egyptian mediators have worked to restore ceasefire, which Israel abandoned last month after trying to extend a temporary truce that resulted in the release of 38 hostages.
Hamas, whose militants performed the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 who triggered the war, said that he will only free the remaining hostages through an agreement that closes the war.
Israel has bombed Gaza with air strikes since the collapse of the ceasefire. Palestinian health officials said the military intensified their attacks throughout the Gaza Strip and left at least 50 Palestinians killed in attacks on Saturday and 92 people in the last 48 hours.
Fifty-nine hostages are still stuck in Gaza, and it is believed that less than half of them is still alive.
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Since resumed with his attacks, Israel has taken parts of the Gaza Strip and ordered the withdrawal of hundreds of thousands of residents, which Palestinians fear being a step to permanently depopting parts of the region.
The Ministry of Health of Gaza states that 1,600 people were killed last month.
