Army to enter Gaza ‘with full force’ soon: Israel PM

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• Netanyahu says ceasefire is possible, but vows not to stop war
• Israeli strike kills another journalist

CAIRO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military would enter the besieged enclave “with full force” in the coming days, vowing not to stop the war.

A statement from the office of Israeli PM Netanyahu on Tuesday said, “In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation.”

“Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with injured reserve soldiers in his office late Monday.

“There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way,” he added.

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a January 19 ceasefire that had largely halted the war with Hamas.

Earlier this month, Israel’s government approved plans to expand its Gaza offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.

During the meeting with soldiers, Netanyahu said Israel was working to find countries that may be willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

“We’ve set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave but… we need countries willing to take them in. That’s what we’re working on right now,” he said.

Journalist killed

An Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed a well-known Palestinian journalist who it accused of working with Hamas and was recovering in hospital from an earlier strike, the territory’s health ministry said.

Israel accused the journalist, Hassan Aslih, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media platforms, of taking part in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

It said Aslih had documented and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during the incursion into Israel.

Ahmed Siyyam, a Gaza civil emergency service member, told Reuters the attack hit the third floor of a Nasser Hospital building in the southern city of Khan Younis. Dozens of patients and injured were also being treated at the hospital.

Two patients, including Aslih, were killed and several others were wounded, the health ministry said.

Israel’s military said in a statement it struck Hamas members operating from within a “command and control centre” located at the hospital. It didn’t name them.

Reuters footage showed heavy damage to one of the hospital buildings, including the medical equipment and beds inside.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, at least 160 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.

Officials in Gaza put the number at 215, and accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists. Israel denies targeting journalists and says it tries to avoid harm to civilians.

Aslih headed the Alam24 news outlet and worked as a freelance photojournalist. He was wounded last month in a deadly strike on a tent in the Nasser hospital compound.

Some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken prisoner in the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s response has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and destroyed much of the enclave. A blockade on aid supplies since March 2 has left the population at critical risk of famine, according to a UN-backed monitor.

A senior World Health Organisation official warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2025