TEL AVIV, Nov 8 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday there will be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no ceasefire with Hamas unless hostages seized by the Palestinian militants are freed.
In a televised statement marking the first month of Israel’s war with Hamas, Netanyahu also warned Iran-backed Hezbollah “it will be making the mistake of its life” if it opens a new front in the war from its base in Lebanon.
The Israel-Hamas war started on October 7 when fighters from the Islamist group burst out of the Gaza Strip and into southern Israel.
According to Israel, Hamas militants killed some 1,400 people — mostly civilians — and seized more than 240 hostages, in the worst attack on the nation since its founding in 1948.
In response Israel has launched a withering assault on Hamas in the Palestinian enclave it rules, home to some 2.4 million people.
The Hamas-run health ministry there says more than 10,300 people — also mostly civilians — have been killed by Israel’s offensive.
There have been increasing international calls for a ceasefire or “pause” in fighting as the conflict enters its second month.
But Netanyahu said there would be “no entry of gasoline... no ceasefire without the release of our hostages”. — AFP