Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that Israeli forces will conduct a powerful offensive in Rafah after civilians in the overcrowded southern Gaza city are allowed to leave.
In a video statement on Thursday, he said the only way to secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas militants was continued military pressure.
During the October 7 attack, Hamas militants abducted some 250 hostages to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials say some 130 are still being held in the Palestinian territory, including 29 believed to have been killed.
The attack itself resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to reports.
In Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza, at least 28,576 people, mostly women, children and adolescents have been killed, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
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