Israel will increase pressure on Hamas ‘in coming days’ — Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will “increase the political and military pressure on Hamas in the coming days in a bid to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Speaking before the Jewish holiday of Passover that starts tomorrow, the Israeli leader said all proposals for the release of hostages had been “outright rejected by Hamas”.

“In the coming days we will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages and achieve our victory,” he said.

He also responded to reports of imminent US sanctions on the IDF religious battalion Netzah Yehuda saying: “If anyone thinks they can impose sanctions on a unit in the IDF I will fight it with all my might.”

Despite an international outcry, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the army will launch a ground assault on Rafah, a southern Gaza city so far spared an Israeli invasion where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.

The army has said some of the hostages abducted from southern Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attack that sparked the war were being held in Rafah.

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