By James Mackenzie and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Sunday to step up pressure on Hamas in Gaza while continuing negotiations to secure the release of hostages and working to implement U.S. President Donald Trump’s “voluntary emigration” plan.
He said cabinet had agreed to increase pressure on Hamas, which says it has agreed to a ceasefire proposal from the mediators Egypt and Qatar.
Netanyahu rejected assertions that Israel, which has resumed its bombardment of Gaza after a two-month truce and sent troops back into the enclave, was not negotiating, saying “we are conducting it under fire, and therefore it is also effective”.
“We see that there are suddenly cracks,” he said in a video statement issued on Sunday.
On Saturday, Hamas said it had agreed to a proposal that security sources said included the release of five Israeli hostages each week, but it ruled out laying down its arms as Israel has demanded.
On Sunday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, health authorities in Gaza said at least 20 people, including several children, had been killed in Israeli strikes. Nine were killed in a single tent in the southern city of Khan Yunis, they said.
Since Israel resumed its attacks in Gaza on March 18, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate areas in northern Gaza where they had returned following the ceasefire agreement in January.
Netanyahu said Israel was demanding that Hamas lay down its arms and said its leaders would be allowed to leave Gaza. He gave no detail on how long Israeli troops would remain in the enclave but repeated that Hamas’ military and government capacities must be crushed.
“We will ensure general security in the Gaza Strip and enable the implementation of the Trump plan, the voluntary emigration plan,” he said. “That is the plan, we do not hide it, we are ready to discuss it at any time.”
Trump originally proposed moving the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza to countries including Egypt and Jordan and developing the Gaza Strip as a U.S.-owned resort. However, no country has agreed to take in the population and Israel has since said that any departures by Palestinians would be voluntary.
EID IN GAZA
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after a devastating Hamas attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally, and saw 251 abducted as hostages.
The Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and devastated much of the coastal enclave leaving hundreds of thousands of people in tents and makeshift shelters.
Sunday’s strikes took place as Palestinians celebrated the Eid holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“We are here to celebrate the rituals of God amid the destruction and the sounds of cannons,” said Minnatallah Al-Far, in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, where most of the area has been laid waste by Israeli bombardment.
“In Gaza, our situation is very difficult. Other people are celebrating these rituals in peace and safety, but we do them amid destruction and bombardment,” she said.
In Israel, Netanyahu has faced a wave of demonstrations since the military resumed its action in Gaza, with families and supporters of the remaining 59 hostages joining forces with protestors angry at government actions they see as undermining Israeli democracy.
On Sunday, he rejected what he described as “empty claims and slogans” and said military pressure was the only thing that had returned hostages.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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