The civil defense agency in Gaza has reported that Israeli airstrikes have resulted in at least 54 fatalities, with the expectation that this number will continue to rise.
“Since dawn today, Israeli airstrikes have taken the lives of fifty-four individuals in the Gaza Strip… and the toll is expected to increase as the assault persists,” stated agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal to AFP.
In response, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his commitment to recovering the remaining hostages in Gaza without conceding to Hamas’ demands, declaring that the military operation in the Palestinian territory has reached a “critical stage”.
“I am confident that we can retrieve our hostages without yielding to Hamas’s demands,” Mr. Netanyahu remarked, marking his first public comments since Hamas rejected a new ceasefire proposal from Israel while advocating for a permanent resolution to the conflict in Gaza.
These statements prompted a quick response from an Israeli advocacy group representing the families of hostages, which accused Mr. Netanyahu of lacking a viable strategy for securing the captives’ release.
“There is one clear, practical, and urgent solution that can be implemented immediately: to negotiate a deal that will ensure everyone’s safe return – even if it requires pausing the fighting,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum expressed in a statement.
Nevertheless, Mr. Netanyahu maintained that stopping the conflict at this moment would only bolster the nation’s adversaries.
“To end the war under these capitulatory terms would communicate to all of Israel’s foes that abducting Israelis can bring Israel to submission. It would validate terrorism and that message would threaten the entire free world,” he argued.
According to Mr. Netanyahu, Hamas is “demanding not only the cessation of hostilities but also the continuation of its governance”, alongside a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, “which would allow Hamas to rearm and strategize further assaults against us”.
“If we commit to concluding the war now, we will not be able to resume military actions in Gaza,” he declared.
“So I pose this question: did our soldiers fight in vain? Did our heroes fall and endure suffering for nothing?”
