Netanyahu: Gaza War Won’t End Until Hamas Is Disarmed and Gaza Demilitarised

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the war in Gaza will not end until Hamas is fully disarmed and the Palestinian enclave demilitarised.

Speaking on Saturday during an interview with Israel’s right-wing Channel 14, Netanyahu said:

“Phase B also involves the disarming of Hamas and the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip. When that is successfully completed — hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way — then the war will end.”

His remarks came as Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, handed over the remains of two additional hostages under the US-brokered ceasefire agreement. According to Netanyahu’s office, the Red Cross transferred the bodies from Gaza to Israeli forces for identification.

The issue of recovering the bodies of hostages has become central to the ceasefire’s implementation, with Israel linking the reopening of the Rafah crossing to Hamas’s cooperation in returning the remains.

Netanyahu’s office later confirmed that the Rafah crossing would remain closed “until further notice,” stating its reopening would depend on Hamas fulfilling its obligations to return hostages and bodies as outlined in the truce.

Under the ceasefire deal mediated by US President Donald Trump, Hamas has so far released 20 living hostages and the remains of 10 others. In return, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and handed over 135 bodies.

Hamas has said it needs more time and technical assistance to locate the remaining bodies buried under Gaza’s rubble.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. UN relief chief Tom Fletcher, who visited northern Gaza on Saturday, described vast areas as “a wasteland” and said the UN’s priority was to restore basic dignity to residents.

“We have a massive 60-day plan to surge in food, rebuild the health sector, and get hundreds of thousands of kids back into school,” Fletcher said.

Despite the ceasefire, violence has continued. Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli troops fired tank shells at a bus in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighbourhood on Friday, killing nine members of the Shaaban family, including women and children.

At Al-Ahli Hospital, a grieving relative, Umm Mohammed Shaaban, cried out:

“My daughter, her children and her husband; my son, his children and his wife were killed. What did they do wrong?”

The Israeli military claimed the vehicle had approached a restricted “yellow line” area and posed an “imminent threat,” saying its troops acted “in accordance with the agreement.”

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