“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Netanyahu told families of hostages still held in Gaza. He vowed to enter Rafah and eliminate Hamas battalions to achieve total victory.
“We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hamas was considering a 40-day ceasefire plan and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, as proposed in Cairo talks with US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators. The group’s envoys returned from Cairo to their base in Qatar to discuss the proposal, with sources indicating that Hamas was keen to respond quickly.
Washington has increased pressure on all sides to reach a ceasefire, with Blinken pushing this message during his regional tour. The US has strongly backed Israel but also urged restraint in launching a ground invasion of Rafah, which is packed with displaced civilians. President Joe Biden has called for the release of hostages held by Hamas, describing it as “the only obstacle” to securing relief for Gaza’s civilians.
As diplomacy continued, Israel maintained its bombardment of Gaza, with air strikes reported in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, and Rafah, as well as overnight artillery shelling. Palestinians in Rafah mourned the latest victims, with children being pulled from the rubble.
function loadGtagEvents(isGoogleCampaignActive) { if (!isGoogleCampaignActive) { return; } var id = document.getElementById('toi-plus-google-campaign'); if (id) { return; } (function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.defer = !0; t.src = v; t.id = 'toi-plus-google-campaign'; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s); })(f, b, e, 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-877820074', n, t, s); };
function loadSurvicateJs(allowedSurvicateSections = []){ const section = window.location.pathname.split('/')[1] const isHomePageAllowed = window.location.pathname === '/' && allowedSurvicateSections.includes('homepage')
if(allowedSurvicateSections.includes(section) || isHomePageAllowed){ (function(w) { var s = document.createElement('script'); s.src="https://survey.survicate.com/workspaces/0be6ae9845d14a7c8ff08a7a00bd9b21/web_surveys.js"; s.async = true; var e = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; e.parentNode.insertBefore(s, e); })(window); }
}
window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {}; var TimesApps = window.TimesApps; TimesApps.toiPlusEvents = function(config) { var isConfigAvailable = "toiplus_site_settings" in f && "isFBCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings && "isGoogleCampaignActive" in f.toiplus_site_settings; var isPrimeUser = window.isPrime; if (isConfigAvailable && !isPrimeUser) { loadGtagEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(f.toiplus_site_settings.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(f.toiplus_site_settings.allowedSurvicateSections); } else { var JarvisUrl="https://vsp1jarvispvt.indiatimes.com/v1/feeds/toi_plus/site_settings/643526e21443833f0c454615?db_env=published"; window.getFromClient(JarvisUrl, function(config){ if (config) { loadGtagEvents(config?.isGoogleCampaignActive); loadFBEvents(config?.isFBCampaignActive); loadSurvicateJs(config?.allowedSurvicateSections); } }) } }; })( window, document, 'script', );
