Israeli minister warns Gaza City could be destroyed

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Israel’s defence minister is threatening to reduce Gaza City to rubble like Rafah and Beit Hanoun.
Israel’s defence minister is threatening to reduce Gaza City to rubble like Rafah and Beit Hanoun.

Israel warns that Gaza City could be destroyed unless Hamas accepts Israel’s terms, as the country prepares for an expanded offensive in the area.

A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorise the military to seize Gaza City, Defence Minister Israel Katz warned the enclave’s largest city could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun”, areas reduced to rubble earlier in the war.

Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers at the Gaza border
Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers are parked at the Israeli-Gaza border. (AP PHOTO)

“The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’s murderers and rapists in Gaza – until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war,” Katz wrote in a post on X.

He restated Israel’s ceasefire demands: the release of all hostages and Hamas’ complete disarmament. 

Hamas has said it would release captives in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the creation of a Palestinian state.

AP