(NewsNation) — A Hamas spokesperson said there will be no negotiations or exchange of detainees until “Israeli aggression” in the Gaza Strip stops, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Osama Hamdan, a representative of Hamas, was quoted saying the militant group holds Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for the lives of Israeli hostages and also the end of the temporary cease-fire.
Israel and the United States government, however, blame Hamas for the termination of the cease-fire, during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
“It is clear that Netanyahu does not care about the (Israeli) detainees, nor about their families nor about their lives,” Hamdan said.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Israel’s military will have to retain open-ended security control over the Gaza Strip, even after the war against Hamas ends.
Israeli troops entered Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, on Tuesday in what has been called a “new phase” in the war. Intensified bombardment sent ambulances and cars racing to hospitals with wounded and dead Palestinians, according to the Associated Press.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari says the military continues expanding ground operations.
“We attack today with fighter jets and the entire Gaza Strip, significant and very precise strikes based on intelligence,” Hagari said.
Israel says it has to remove Hamas from power to repeat another attack like the one on Oct. 7, where the militant group killed about 1,200 people and took 240 captive.
Officials in the country have told Palestinians to evacuate Khan Younis, but they are running out of places to go as ground and air attacks inch further and further south. Weeks of bombardment and a ground offensive obliterated much of northern Gaza.
“Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go,” Lynn Hastings, the United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in a statement. “The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist. If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond.”
More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, 41,000 wounded and three-fourths of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced in Israel’s assault after Hamas’ attack, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. More than 70% of the dead are women and children.
The United States and the U.N. have increased pressure on Israel to minimize civilian casualties.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said officials have seen a more targeted request for evacuations by the Israel Defense Forces. The IDF, Miller said, identified specific neighborhoods where they plan to conduct military operations, telling people in those areas to evacuate.
“We do not want to see the same level of civilian casualties,” Miller said. “We do not want to see the same level of mass displacement.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.