Netanyahu says Israel has ‘no choice’ but to continue fighting in Gaza

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — 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 claimed that Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest proposal to free half the hostages for a continued ceasefire.

The prime minister spoke after Israeli strikes 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 15 people killed overnight, and some had been sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff. At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Yunis, several of them in a tent in the Muwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are staying, 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 the city of Rafah, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Later 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 said in a statement it had killed more than 40 militants over the weekend.

Separately, the military said an Israeli soldier was killed Saturday in northern Gaza and confirmed it was the first death of one of its soldiers 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 more than 2 million people. Hamas wants Israeli forces to withdraw from the territory and end hostilities.

Israel also has blockaded Gaza for the last six weeks, barring the entry of food, medicine 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 Israeli leaders to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicine and other aid can enter.

“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said.

In his first appearance as ambassador on Friday, Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by President Trump. Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. 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 more than 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll.

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 after Israel shattered a ceasefire last month, with rare public protests against Hamas in Gaza and continued weekly rallies in Israel pressing the government to reach a deal to bring all the 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 said at a rally in Tel Aviv.

Shurafa, Federman and Magdy write for the Associated Press. Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Federman from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.