Netanyahu: 'We Will Inflict More Painful Strikes on Hamas'

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, promised on Sunday, April 21, ahead of Passover, to inflict 'painful and more' strikes on Hamas in order to secure the release of hostages. Netanyahu expressed regret in a message that 'all proposals for the release of our hostages have been completely rejected by Hamas.' According to the Israeli Prime Minister, Hamas is exploiting the pressures on the Israeli government instead of retreating from its extremist positions, making conditions for the release of hostages more difficult. Netanyahu emphasized: 'In the coming days, we will increase military and diplomatic pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to secure the release of our hostages and achieve victory.' In recent weeks, Netanyahu has announced that a specific day has been set for the start of operations against Hamas in Rafah. CNN reported that the attack on Rafah has been postponed due to missile and drone attacks by the Iranian government on Israel. Following the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of more than 250 others, Israel began its assault on Gaza with the aim of destroying this Islamist group supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran and recovering the hostages. During negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt last fall, more than 100 kidnapped hostages were released. There are still 133 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and Israel believes that at least 20 of them have lost their lives. Since the October 7 terrorist attack, Hamas officials have repeatedly emphasized that they are capable of repeating such an attack. Without specifying the number of its members killed as a result of the Israeli assault on Gaza, Hamas claims that more than 34,000 Palestinians residing in Gaza have been killed and about 73,000 others injured. The Persian section of Voice of America cannot independently verify or confirm the statistics provided by Hamas. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Israel, and several other countries have listed Hamas as a terrorist organization. The end of the '50-hour operation' by the Israeli army in the Nur Shams refugee camp resulted in the deaths of '14 armed Palestinian men.' An indictment was issued against the sister of Ismail Haniyeh on charges of incitement to murder. The Israeli army targeted Hezbollah forces in Lebanon for the third time on Saturday. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the Iranian government's attacks on Israel, emphasizing Israel's right to defend itself.