Netanyahu rejects growing calls for cease-fire, vows Israel will crush Hamas with ‘full force’

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back Saturday against growing international calls for a cease-fire, saying Israel’s battle to crush Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants will continue with “full force.”

A cease-fire would be possible only if all 239 hostages held by militants in Gaza are released, Netanyahu said in a televised address.

The Israeli leader also insisted that after the war, now entering its sixth week, Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control there. The position appears to run counter to post-war scenarios floated by Israel’s closest ally, the United States, which has said it opposes an Israeli reoccupation of the territory.

Asked what he meant by security control, Netanyahu said Israeli forces must be able to enter Gaza when necessary to hunt down militants.

Pressure was growing on Israel after frantic doctors at Gaza’s largest hospital said the last generator had run out of fuel, causing the death of a premature baby, another child in an incubator and four other patients. Thousands of war-wounded, medical staff and displaced civilians were caught in the fighting.

READ MORE: Power goes out at Gaza’s Shifa hospital amid intense fighting between Israel and Hamas

The “unbearably desperate situation” at Shifa must stop now, the International Committee of the Red Cross director general, Robert Mardini, said on social media. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths posted that “there can be no justification for acts of war in health care facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water.”

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli tanks were 20 meters (65 feet) from al-Quds hospital in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, causing “a state of extreme panic and fear” among the 14,000 displaced people sheltering there.

Israel’s military released footage which it said showed tanks operating in Gaza. The footage showed shattered buildings, some on fire, and rubbled streets empty of anyone but troops.

A 57-nation gathering of Muslim and Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia called in their communique for an end to the war in Gaza and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid. They also called on the International Court of Justice, a U.N. organ, to open an investigation into Israel’s attacks, saying the war “cannot be called self-defense and cannot be justified under any means.”

Netanyahu has said the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas.