Israeli PM says to brief army on Gaza war plan Jerusalem

TDT | Jerusalem

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Monday to update Israel’s Gaza war plan, a day before a UN Security Council meeting on the fate of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.

Addressing a cabinet meeting nearly 22 months into the war, the Israeli leader told ministers that later in the week he would instruct the military on how “to achieve the three war objectives we have set”.

Netanyahu’s announcement comes as he faces increasing pressure to return the remaining hostages in Gaza, as well as mounting international calls to address the dire food situation in the Gaza Strip.

Israel -- backed by the United States and Panama -- is preparing to convene a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to highlight the fate of the hostages.

At the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s three war goals remain “the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”.

His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said ahead of the UN session in New York that “the world must putan end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be frontand centre on the worldstage”.

Of the 251 hostagesseized during Hamas’sOctober 2023 attack onIsrael, 49 are still held inthe Palestinian territory,including 27 the Israelimilitary says are dead.