Netanyahu says Israel has 'no choice' but to continue fighting in Gaza
[April 21, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, JOSEF FEDERMAN and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said again Saturday that Israel has “no choice” but to
continue fighting in Gaza and will not end the war before destroying
Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that the territory won’t
present a threat to Israel.
The prime minister also repeated his vow to make sure Iran never gets a
nuclear weapon.
Netanyahu is under growing pressure at home not only from families of
hostages and their supporters but also from reservist and retired
Israeli soldiers who question the continuation of the war after Israel
shattered a ceasefire last month.
In his statement, he said Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest proposal to
free half the hostages in return for another temporary truce. Hamas has
said it will only free the remaining hostages in return for an Israeli
withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the agreement that
Israel ended.
Israeli strikes meanwhile killed more than 90 people in 48 hours, Gaza’s
Health Ministry said Saturday. Israeli troops have been increasing their
attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.
Children and women were among the 15 people killed overnight, according
to hospital staff. At least 11 dead were in the southern city of Khan
Younis, several of them in a tent in the Muwasi area where hundreds of
thousands of displaced people stay, hospital workers said. Israel has
designated it as a humanitarian zone.
Mourners cradled and kissed the faces of the dead. A man stroked a
child's forehead with his finger before body bags were closed.
“Omar is gone ... I wish it was me," one brother cried out.
Four other people were killed in strikes in Rafah city, including a
mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the
bodies were taken.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a group of civilians west of
Nuseirat in central Gaza killed one person, according to Al-Awda
Hospital.
Israel's military in a statement said it killed more than 40 militants
over the weekend.
Separately, the military said a soldier was killed Saturday in northern
Gaza and confirmed it was the first soldier death since Israel resumed
the war on March 18. Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said it
ambushed Israeli forces operating east of Gaza City’s al-Tuffah
neighborhood.
Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy
indefinitely large “security zones” inside the small coastal strip of
over 2 million people.
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Mohammad Al-Qadi carrying body of his nephew who was killed in an
Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern
Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israel also has blockaded Gaza for the past six weeks, again barring
the entry of food and other goods.
This week, aid groups raised the alarm, saying thousands of children
have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal
a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.
The head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean
office, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, on Friday urged the new U.S. ambassador in
Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza's blockade
so medicines and other aid can enter.
“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she
said.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on
Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire
agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of
them believed to be alive.
Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly
women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does
not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food
production capabilities. Around 90% of the population is displaced,
with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and
bombed-out buildings.
Frustration has been growing on both sides, with rare public
protests against Hamas in Gaza and continued weekly rallies in
Israel pressing the government to reach a deal to bring all hostages
home.
Thousands of Israelis joined protests Saturday night pressing for a
deal.
“Do what you should have done a long time ago. Bring them all back
now! And in one deal. And if this means to stop the war, then stop
the war,” former hostage Omer Shem Tov told a rally in Tel Aviv.
——
Magdy reported from Cairo and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated
Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.
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