The Israeli prime minister pushed back against calls for an international ceasefire.
ADVERTISEMENTBenjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel’s war against Hamas will continue for “many more months,” amid mounting civilian deaths, hunger and mass displacement in Gaza.
Israel’s prime minister thanked the Biden administration for its continued backing, including approval of emergency weapons sales – the second this month.
He also praised Washington’s veto of a UN Security Council resolution seeking an immediate ceasefire.
Netanyahu’s comments came as Israeli warplanes pummeled refugee camps in central Gaza on Saturday as its ground forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Khan Younis.
In the Nuseirat camp, resident Mustafa Abu Wawee said a strike hit the home of one of his relatives, killing two people.
“The [Israeli] occupation is doing everything to force people to leave,” he said while helping to search for four people missing under the rubble. “They want to break our spirit and will, but they will fail. We are here to stay.”
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 21,600 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war on 7 October. About 70% of those killed have been women and children.
The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza combat rose to 170 after the military announced two more deaths Saturday.
The war has displaced some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, sending swells of people seeking shelter in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed.
Palestinians are left with a sense that nowhere is safe in the tiny enclave.
With Israeli forces expanding their ground offensive this week, tens of thousands more Palestinians streamed into the already crowded city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Thousands of tents and makeshift shacks have sprung up on Rafah’s outskirts next to UN warehouses. Those who did not find space in overwhelmed shelters pitched tents on roadsides.
“We don’t have water. We don’t have enough food,” Nour Daher, a displaced woman, said Saturday from the sprawling tent camp. “The kids wake up in the morning wanting to eat, wanting to drink. It took us one hour to find water for them.”
On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved a $147.5 million (€133m) sale for equipment, including fuses, charges and primers, that is needed for 155 mm shells Israel bought previously.
It marked the second time this month that the Biden administration has approved emergency weapons sale to Israel.
Blinken made a similar decision on 9 December to approve the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106m (€96m).