Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu categorically ruled out a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas Monday, as ground forces pushed into Gaza and freed one hostage.
“Calls for a ceasefire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism,” Netanyahu said, slapping aside demands from UN agencies for a truce.
“This will not happen,” the premier told foreign media, vowing Israel would “fight until this battle is won.”
Israel declared war on Palestinian militant group Hamas after it launched an unprecedented wave of attacks inside Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 230 people hostage.
Israel has since carried out a huge aerial bombing campaign against Hamas-ruled Gaza, while inside the territory, a long-expected ground war was underway.
The military has released images of Israeli mechanized infantry grinding through the coastal sands of northern Gaza, while witnesses on Monday reported tanks on the outskirts of Gaza City.
Air raid sirens went off in the area of the Red Sea city of Eilat on Tuesday, and Israel's military said the alert concerned a possible hostile aircraft intrusion.
Shortly after the sirens sounded, Israel Radio reported that Israeli air defences shot down a drone over the Red Sea.
Israel said it hit 600 targets in 24 hours, one of the most intense periods of bombing to date, and that a missing woman soldier was rescued from Hamas inside Gaza.
The release of Private Ori Megidish was “secured during a ground operation” inside Gaza the army said, adding she was in Israel, reunited with family and was “doing well.”
Netanyahu has vowed the war will “eliminate” Hamas, ensuring no possible repeat of the group’s attacks.
Israel has also promised to free the hostages taken by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups on October 7.
Israel’s campaign has flattened thousands of buildings and Gaza’s 2.4 million residents are under near continuous bombardment, with little access to water, food, fuel and other essentials.
The United Nations has repeatedly called for a humanitarian truce in the violence, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims has killed more than 8,000 people, many of them children.
On Monday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said the limited number of aid trucks entering the besieged territory were insufficient to meet the “unprecedented humanitarian needs” there.
“Nearly 70 percent of those reported killed are children and women,” said Philippe Lazzarini, who heads UNRWA. “This cannot be ‘collateral damage.’“
Rizk Abu Rok, a 24-year-old paramedic with the Palestinian Red Crescent, told AFP that transporting those killed and wounded had become a daily routine.
But a recent strike on the Rio Cafe in Khan Yunis added his father and several other relatives to the growing toll.
“I found them all, one after the other,” he said.
Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals as military headquarters and using civilians as “human shields.”
Arab News adds from Dubai: Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Crown Prince of Kuwait, has condemned Israeli aggression on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire.
“The leadership, people, national assembly and government of the State of Kuwait are following closely the bloody events taking place in the Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, denouncing the attacks of the brutal Israeli aggression,” the crown prince said during the opening of the second session of the 17th legislative term of the National Assembly.
“We affirm Kuwait’s firm position towards the Palestinian issue and demand a ceasefire and allowing the entry of humanitarian and relief aid,” he added.
The crown prince also said Kuwait supports all efforts aimed at reaching “a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue in accordance with international legitimacy.”
