Israeli Defense Minister
The announcement comes a day after the killings of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani and Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani.
“The fact that this war is leading to the killing of thousands of innocent people is creating the conditions for Hamas to find even more consensus,” reported Italy’s news agency ANSA, quoting Crosetto as saying at the Trento Economics Festival.
Katz emphasized that if Hamas refuses to release the captives, Israeli forces will maintain “permanent Israeli control of the territory,” while “evacuating the population and expanding security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and soldiers.”
Egypt’s Minister of Defense Mohamed Zaki and his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, discussed the circumstances of the border gunfire incident earlier on Saturday in a phone call.
