Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will increase military pressure on Palestinian militant group Hamas in a bid to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
Netanyahu stated this in a video on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover, threatening to deliver additional and painful blows without specifying.
Despite an international outcry, Netanyahu has repeatedly said that the army will launch a ground assault on Rafah, a southern Gaza city so far spared an Israeli invasion where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge.
The army has said some of the hostages abducted from southern Israel during Hamas’s October 7 attack that sparked the war were being held in Rafah.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement later that the chief of staff has approved the next steps for the war, without offering details.