Netanyahu says army entering Gaza 'with full force' soon in coming days

RTÉ News​

13-05-2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military was going to enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days, a statement from his office 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," Mr Netanyahu said.
"There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way."
He also said that his government was working to find countries who may be willing to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
"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," Mr Netanyahu told a group of soldiers wounded in action during meeting in his office, the statement said, adding that the prime minister estimated that "over 50% will leave" if given the option.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it struck a hospital in Khan Younis, which it claimed was housing Hamas militants in a raid that, according to the Palestinian group, killed a journalist who was wounded in an Israeli attack last month.
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The military said in a Telegram post that "significant Hamas terrorists" had been "operating from within a command and control centre" at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city just north of Rafah.
"The compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (army) troops," it said.
In a statement, Hamas said the strike killed a journalist and wounded a number of civilians.
"The Israeli army bombed the surgeries building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis at dawn on Tuesday, killing journalist Hassan Aslih," said Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Mr Aslih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, had been at the hospital for treatment after being wounded in a strike on 7 April.
Two other journalists, Ahmed Mansur and Hilmi al-Faqaawi, were killed in that bombing, according to reports at the time.
The Israeli military said the April strike had targeted Mr Aslih, alleging he operated for Hamas "under the guise of a journalist".
It claimed Mr Aslih had "infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the murderous massacre carried out by the Hamas terrorist organisation" on 7 October 2023.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the strike.
It said Mr Aslih had worked for international media outlets until 2023, when the pro-Israeli watchdog Honest Reporting published a photo of him being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The CPJ says at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the start of the war.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by an attack by the Palestinian group in October 2023.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.
Gaza faces 'critical risk of famine' - UN report
The entire population of Gaza faces a critical risk of famine, with half a million of them facing starvation, a global hunger monitor has said, calling this a major deterioration since its last report in October.
The latest assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysed a period from 1 April to 10 May this year and projected the situation until the end of September, according to a summary of its key findings published yesterday.
It said there had been a "major deterioration" in the food security situation since its last assessment in October 2024.
Israel has sealed off Gaza since early March when it resumed its devastating military campaign against Hamas following the collapse of a ceasefire deal, during which aid agencies had delivered thousands of trucks of aid.
The IPC analysis found that 1.95 million people, or 93% of the population in the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave, are living through high levels of acute food insecurity, including 244,000 experiencing the most severe, or "catastrophic", levels.
IPC's October analysis had said 133,000 people were in the "catastrophic" category.
The IPC analysis projected that 470,000 people, or 22% of the population, would fall into the catastrophic category by the end of September, with over a million more at "emergency" levels.
"Urgent action is needed to save lives and avert further starvation, further deaths and a descent into famine.
"Goods indispensable for people's survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks. The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people - one in five - facing starvation," it said.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization called for the "immediate" lifting of the blockade.
"Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border," said the UN World Food Programme's executive director, Cindy McCain.
"It's imperative that the international community acts urgently to get aid flowing into Gaza again. If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people."
Israeli officials have said they do not believe Gaza faces a hunger crisis, that enough aid has entered to sustain the enclave's population, and that they want to stop supplies coming under the control of Hamas.
The IPC, in a brief accompanying its latest analysis, said a plan announced on 5 May by Israeli authorities for delivering aid was "estimated to be highly insufficient to meet the population's essential needs".