Israel’s defense minister says Gaza City could be destroyed

By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAM METZ, Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister warned Friday that Gaza’s largest city would be destroyed unless Hamas yields to Israel’s terms, as the world’s leading authority on food crises said the city was gripped by famine from fighting and blockade.

A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorize the military to mount a major operation to seize Gaza City, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that it could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas largely reduced to rubble earlier in the war.

“The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’ murderers and rapists in Gaza — until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war,” Katz wrote in a post on X.

He restated Israel’s cease-fire demands: the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament. Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu on Thursday said he had instructed officials “to begin immediate negotiations” to release hostages and end the war on acceptable terms, Israel’s first public response to the latest ceasefire proposal.

With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the wide-scale operation in Gaza City could start within days.

Gaza City is Hamas’ military and governing stronghold, atop of what Israel believes is an extensive tunnel network. It is also sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians and still houses some of the strip’s critical infrastructure and health facilities.

Hamas said earlier this week that it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators, which if accepted by Israel could forestall the offensive. The parties do not negotiate directly and similar announcements have been made in the past that did not lead to ceasefires.

The proposal outlines a phased deal involving hostage and prisoner exchanges and a pullback of Israeli troops, while talks continue on a longer-term cease-fire. Israeli leaders have resisted such terms since abandoning a similar agreement earlier this year amid divisions within Netanyahu’s coalition and strong opposition from his right.

Many Israelis fear an assault could doom the roughly 20 hostages who have survived captivity since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack. Aid groups and international leaders warn it would worsen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The logistics of evacuating civilians are expected to be daunting. Many residents say repeated displacement is pointless since nowhere in Gaza is safe, while medical groups warn Israel’s calls to move patients south is unworkable, with no facilities to receive them.

But Netanyahu has argued the offensive is the surest way to free captives and crush Hamas.

“These two things — defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages — go hand in hand,” Netanyahu said Thursday while touring a command center near in southern Israel.

Since 251 people were taken hostage more than 22 months ago, ceasefire agreements and other deals have accounted for the vast majority of the 148 released, including the bodies of eight deceased hostages.

Israel has only managed to rescue eight hostages alive and retrieved the bodies of 49 others. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, about 20 of whom Israel believes to be alive.

Airstrike hits area ahead of broader offensive

Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said at least 17 Palestinians were killed Friday as Israel escalates its activity in the area in the lead-up to its broader planned offensive.