Netanyahu calls for increased pressure on Hamas to release hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that only increased military pressure on Hamas will help release all hostages held by radicals in the Gaza Strip.

"Only increasing the military pressure on Hamas will lead to achieving all of the objectives of the war, including the return home of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased," the prime minister’s office quoted him as saying.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

News.Az