Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to ‘take control’ of the whole of Gaza as his military launches a newly intensified campaign in the besieged territory.
Earlier this month his cabinet approved plans for the expanded offensive currently under way and said it was aimed at the ‘conquest’ of Gaza and the displacement of its people.
Israel restarted its incursion into Gaza in March as well as blocking all aid following the breakdown of a fragile ceasefire brokered in January.
In a video posted on Telegram, Netanyahu said: ‘The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip.
‘We will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped.’
‘We must not let the population (of Gaza) sink into famine, both for practical and diplomatic reasons,’ he added, adding that even friends of Israel would not tolerate ‘images of mass starvation’.
