JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete Hamas defeat.
He speaks to foreign media in Jerusalem and defends planned military attacks. He argues, “Our goal is not to occupy Gaza, our goal is to liberate Gaza.” He also opposes what he calls a “global campaign of lies” as the plan’s criticism grows both inside and outside Israel.
Netanyahu said he has a “quite short timetable” in mind for his next step in Gaza.
The goals there include accusations of Israeli forces, where security controls are the top priority, and Gaza, which is handled by non-Israel civilian governments, he said.
The prime minister also said he recently directed the Israeli military to “invite more foreign journalists.” This will be a significant development as it is not permitted to enter Gaza beyond military embedding.
Netanyahu again condemned many of the issues of Gaza regarding Hamas’ militant groups, including civilian death, destruction and lack of aid.
More Palestinians were killed when they asked for assistance in Gaza
Hospitals and witnesses said at least 26 Palestinians were killed while seeking assistance in the Gaza Strip as families of Israeli hostages sought a general strike to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to expand military operations on his territory.
Netanyahu is scheduled to hold a press conference in foreign and local media later on Sunday amid international condemnation of his plans. His speech comes just before the UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting on Israel’s plan to take control of Gaza.
Hospital officials said they received the bodies from areas where Palestinians are seeking assistance. They said it was close to privately operated aid distribution points along the food convoy route or across Gaza.
According to Nasser Hospital, the deaths include 10 people killed while waiting for an aid truck near the newly built Morag corridor.
Six more people died while awaiting assistance in northern Gaza near the Jikim intersection, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health and the victim Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
In central Gaza, witnesses said they first heard the warning shot before they set out for a crowd of people seeking assistance trying to reach a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The AP cannot independently check who fired the shot. AWDA hospital in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp said four people had been killed in Israeli shootings.
“First of all, it was in the air and then they started firing at people,” said Sayed Awda, who was waiting hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF site in the area.
According to Nasser Hospital, six other people seeking assistance were killed while trying to reach the GHF site in Khan Younis and Rafah.
The US and Israel supported the foundation several months ago as an alternative to the UNRUN aid system, but their early operations have been eroding death and chaos, with aiders being shot near the route leading to the site.
In response to an Associated Press inquiry, the GHF Media Office said: “There are no incidents on or near today’s site, and these cases seem to link to crowds trying to loot the convoy.”
The Israeli military also said there were no incidents involving Israeli military near aid sites in central Gaza.
A local hospital reported that seven people were killed in the airstrikes. Three are near the port of a fisherman in Gaza city, two of whom are four in a strike that hit a Khan Eunice tent. Israeli forces did not immediately comment on the strike, but accused Hamas of operating from the civilian region.
Hungry death mounts, toll between children reaches 100
There is Israeli air and ground attacks expelled most of the population and He pushed the territory into hunger. Two more Palestinian children died on Saturday from malnutrition-related causes, bringing the death toll to 100 for Gaza children since the start of the war.
It said a total of 117 adults have died from malnutrition-related causes since late June when the province began counting the age category.
Hunger sacrifices are not included in the death toll in the 61,400 Palestinian province during the war. The ministry, part of Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, does not distinguish fighter jets from civilians, but says that about half of the deaths were women and children. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source of information on victims of war.
Workforce attacks urged over the looming attacks of Gaza city in Israel
The prospect of expanding the war has sparked rage both internationally and within Israel. There, still hostage relatives in Gaza urged businesses to declare a general strike next week.
Tens of thousands of Israelis in Tel Aviv rallied on Saturday night in what local media called one of the biggest anti-government protests in recent months.
The family and their supporters want to pressure the government to reverse their decision to take over Gaza city, warning that expanding the war will put their loved ones at risk.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led extremists attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, and 251 of the 251 people who killed about 1,200 people were accused of being believed to be alive.
Richey Milan Ravi, whose husband Omri is one of the hostages, appealed to President Donald Trump and special envoy Steve Witkov to stop the war.
“The decision to send the troops deep into Gaza is dangerous for my husband Omri, but we can still stop this disaster,” she said.
Also on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz toured the northern part of the Israeli occupied West Bank. He said Israeli troops will remain in refugee camps in the area until at least the end of the year.
About 40,000 Palestinians have been kicked out of their homes this year The biggest displacement in the West Bank Israel acquired territory in 1967. Israel has said that Israel needs operations to defeat the militants as the attacks sparked the war in Gaza as violence by all sides has skyrocketed since October 7, 2023.
Katz on Sunday said the number of warnings about attacks on Israelis in the West Bank has fallen 80% since the business began in January.
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Shurafa reported from Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Cairo from Magdy. Associated Press Writer Melanie Ridman was a contribution from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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