Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday evening that massive overnight strikes on Gaza which reportedly killed hundreds of people were ‘only the beginning’ and that future negotiations with Hamas ‘will take place only under fire’.
The strikes, by far the largest since a truce took effect on January 19, killed more than 400 people across the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
Netanyahu said in a video statement that ‘Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you – and them – this is only the beginning’.
Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase has expired, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.
The Israeli premier said in his address that ‘from now on, negotiations will take place only under fire,’ before adding: ‘Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages’.
Israel has vowed to keep fighting until the return of all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.
By Tuesday afternoon, witnesses in Gaza said the attacks had largely stopped, though sporadic bombing continued.
‘Today I felt that Gaza is a real hell,’ said Jihan Nahhal, a 43-year-old woman from Gaza City, adding that some of her relatives were wounded or killed in the strikes.
