VOA NEWS
Israeli forces carried out fresh airstrikes Tuesday in multiple parts of the Gaza Strip after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until Israel achieves all its objectives.
The Israeli military said it attacked more than 100 targets, including tunnel shafts and sites used by Hamas militants to organize attacks against Israeli forces.
Residents reported airstrikes and shelling in the areas of the Nuseirat, Maghazi and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza.
Netanyahu, in comments to members of his Likud party Monday, said Israel needs to apply military pressure against Hamas if it is to succeed in freeing the remaining hostages held by the militant group.
“We are expanding the fight in the coming days, and this will be a long battle and it isn’t close to finished,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also outlined similar parameters in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, reiterating his government’s position that Hamas must be destroyed, the Gaza Strip must be demilitarized and Palestinian society must be deradicalized.
The Israeli offensive, which has included thousands of airstrikes in addition to ground operations, has left vast parts of Gaza in ruins and killed 20,600 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The fighting has also displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, with many trying to find safety in overcrowded, U.N.-run shelters in southern Gaza.
Hamas militants poured into the Gaza border on October 7 and attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people, according to Israel. The group, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and others, also seized around 240 hostages, of whom 129 remain in Gaza.
In response, Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched an air, land and sea offensive on Gaza.
Israel said Hamas is to blame for the high civilian death toll, citing its use of crowded residential areas and a system of tunnels throughout the enclave.
