Netanyahu reveals instruction to Israeli military in TV address

Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has instructed Israel's military to intensify pressure on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group rejected a temporary truce proposal.

In a televised address, the Israeli prime minister said that while war came with a heavy price, Israel had "no choice but to continue fighting for our very existence, until victory". On Thursday, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a temporary pause in fighting, describing the offer as demanding "impossible conditions".

Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, with 24 of them believed to be alive. It says it will only return them in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting truce, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire agreement reached earlier this year.

Mr Netanyahu's remarks came after the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Israeli strikes had killed more than 90 people in 48 hours. Women and children were among 15 people who were killed overnight on Friday in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital staff.

At least 11 of those who were killed were sheltering in a tent in the designated humanitarian zone of al Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living, the hospital workers said. A further four people were killed in separate strikes on the city of Rafah, including a mother and her daughter, according to Gaza's European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Israel says its latest campaign is to put pressure on Hamas to release more hostages and ultimately agree to disarm and leave the territory. For weeks, Israeli troops have also blockaded Gaza, barring the entry of food and other goods.

Last month, 15 aid workers were killed and buried in a shallow grave after being fired upon by Israeli troops. Hamas's armed wing said the fate of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was unknown after a guard who was holding him was found killed.

On Tuesday, Hamas said it had lost contact with a group of militants holding Mr Alexander in Gaza. Read more:How Israel's deadly attack on aid workers unfoldedHundreds of names removed from official Gaza war death list 'Worst humanitarian crisis' Earlier this week, the United Nations warned that almost all of Gaza's population of more than two million people is relying on the one million prepared meals produced daily by charity kitchens.

The only other way to get food in Gaza is from markets, but rising prices make them unaffordable for most, according to the World Food Programme. The UN humanitarian office, known as OCHA, called it Gaza's "worst humanitarian crisis" since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023.

Dr Hanan Balkhy, head of the World Health Organisation's eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new US ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push Israel to lift Gaza's blockade so medicines and other aid can enter the strip. "I would wish for him to go in and see the situation first-hand," she said on Friday.

In his first appearance as ambassador, Mr Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem's Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by US President Donald Trump.

Mr Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining Israeli hostages. Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251.

Israel's offensive has since killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants..