'War Will Go On For Many More Months': Netanyahu As Toll In Gaza Crosses 20,000 Mark

The Israeli PM pushed back against continuous international cease-fire calls after increasing civilian deaths, hunger, and mass displacement in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Israel-Gaza War: Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that his country’s war on Hamas in Gaza will continue for “many more months,” as reported by news agency AP. Netanyahu’s statement comes as the Health Ministry in Gaza said Saturday that more than 21,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive since the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

The Israeli PM pushed back against continuous international cease-fire calls after increasing civilian deaths, hunger, and mass displacement in the enclave.

Netanyahu also thanked the Joe Biden-led US administration for its support, including approval for a new emergency weapons sale, the second this month, and the prevention of a U.N. Security Council resolution seeking an immediate cease-fire, as reported by AP.

“As the chief of staff said this week, the war will continue for many more months,” the Israeli PM told a televised news conference on Saturday, as quoted by AP. “My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until we have achieved all the objectives of the war, first and foremost the annihilation of Hamas and the release of all the hostages,” he further stated.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes hit the urban refugee camps of Nuseirat and Bureij in the center of the territory as forces on the ground pushed further into the southern city of Khan Younis, as reported by AP.

Displaced Gazans 'Living In The Open', Says UN 

Several people who are displaced in Gaza are living "in the open, in the parks," Juliette Touma of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has told the BBC. As per the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), at least 100,000 people have fled to Rafah, which borders Egypt in Gaza's south.

UNRWA's Touma stated that the UN was being authorised to bring in "limited assistance." But Gaza's humanitarian needs, she said, "have massively grown." She stated that UNRWA continued to face "restrictions to access areas in the Gaza Strip where we should access," as quoted by the BBC.