Israel retains right to resume Gaza fighting, says Netanyahu
Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
“If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “President Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel’s right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile,” he said.
Earlier, Israel approved a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday that involved releasing hostages in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces carried out new attacks in the enclave before the agreement’s scheduled start on Sunday.
The agreement is set to halt a 15-month-old war between Israel and Gaza’s rulers Hamas that has decimated the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destabilised the Middle East.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza since.
Early on Saturday, after meeting for more than six hours, the Israeli cabinet ratified the ceasefire deal which is meant to stop fighting and see the release of dozens of hostages held by Hamas in return for scores of Palestinians jailed in Israel.
Later, Netanyahu said Hamas had yet to provide the list of hostages who would be released and that Israel would not proceed without it.
In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have kept up attacks since the deal was agreed and pounded the territory on Saturday.
Israeli tanks shelled the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza, residents said.
Medics in Gaza said five people were killed in an airstrike that hit a tent in the Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said that since Friday it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters who were among 50 “terror targets” it hit across the Gaza Strip.
At least 123 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire deal was announced on Wednesday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said.
Nearly 47,000 have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
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