Israeli forces surrounding Gaza City; Netanyahu says no cease-fire
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops and armor pushed deeper into northern and central Gaza on Monday.
Video released Monday by the military showed armored vehicles moving among buildings and soldiers taking positions inside a house.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said additional infantry, armored, engineering and artillery units had entered Gaza and the operations would continue to “expand and intensify,” though Israel has stopped short of calling its operations an all-out invasion.
The military said Monday that overnight its troops had killed dozens of terrorists who attacked from inside buildings and tunnels. It said that in the last few days, it had struck more than 600 terrorist targets, including weapons depots and antitank missile launching positions. The reports of targeting could not be independently confirmed.
The Israeli advances put their forces on both sides of Gaza City and the surrounding areas of northern Gaza, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion.
Netanyahu rejected calls for a cease-fire to facilitate the release of captives or end the war, which he has said will be long and difficult. “Calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas,” he told a news conference. “That will not happen.”
Netanyahu, who faces mounting anger over Israel’s failure to prevent the worst surprise attack on the country in a half century, also said he had no plans to resign.
