TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says there is “no way” Israel will halt its war in Gaza — where airstrikes on two hospitals Tuesday killed at least eight and wounded dozens — even if a deal is reached to release more hostages.
Netanyahu’s comments are likely to complicate talks on a new ceasefire that had seemed to gain momentum after Hamas released the last living American hostage on Monday in a gesture to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region but skipping Israel.
They pointed to a potentially widening rift between Netanyahu and Trump, who had expressed hope that the release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander would be a step toward ending the 19-month war.
Yael and Adi Alexander, parents of former Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, an Israeli soldier who was freed from Hamas captivity yesterday, speak to journalists at Ichilov hospital where he is recovering, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The Israeli military on Tuesday struck what it said was a Hamas “command and control center” located beneath a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The strike on the European hospital was the day’s second strike on a hospital, and left at least six people dead and 40 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The dead were taken to Nasser hospital, which Israel struck earlier in the day, saying militants were operating inside it, without identifying them. Two people were killed in that strike.
In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday from a visit to wounded soldiers the previous day, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. … It means destroying Hamas.”
Any ceasefire deal reached would be temporary, the prime minister said. If Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu said. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end.”
People watch a live broadcast of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander as he is released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, at a plaza known as the hostages square in Tel Aviv, Monday, May 12, 2025. Alexander was abducted during the Hamas-led attack on his base on October 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The dispute over whether to end the conflict has been the main obstacle in negotiations going back more than a year.
Israel says 58 hostages remain in captivity, with as many as 23 of them said to be alive, although authorities have expressed concern about the condition of three of them. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war were freed in ceasefire deals.
