JAKARTA - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would control the entire Gaza despite rising international pressure forcing him to lift a blockade on aid supplies that had put the enclave on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli military, which announced the start of a new operation on Friday, warned residents of the southern city of Khan Younis to immediately flee to the beach as it was preparing for an "unprecedented attack".
"There is a major ongoing, intense and large battle, we will control all parts of Gaza," Netanyahu said in a video message in which he vowed to achieve a "full victory" with the release of 58 hostages still detained by Hamas in Gaza and the destruction of Palestinian militant groups.
Even as the military warned about the attack, Reuters journalists saw aid trucks heading to northern Gaza after Netanyahu was forced to agree to allow a small amount of aid to Gaza in response to global concerns over reports of hunger.
Netanyahu said the US senator he had known for years as an Israeli supporter, "our best friend in the world", told him the sight of hunger drains vital support and brings Israel closer to a "red line, to a point where we may lose control".
"For that reason, to achieve victory, we have to solve this problem," he said.
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Overnight, Israeli airstrikes killed 20 Palestinians, according to local medics.
The military said the attack hit 160 targets across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including anti-tank positions, underground infrastructure, and weapons storage areas.
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