Netanyahu Says Army Will Fight on after Deadliest Single Attack in Gaza

22 January 2024, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with representatives of the hostages' families, at the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Prime Minister's Media Dept/GPO/dpa
22 January 2024, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with representatives of the hostages' families, at the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Prime Minister's Media Dept/GPO/dpa
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Netanyahu Says Army Will Fight on after Deadliest Single Attack in Gaza

22 January 2024, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with representatives of the hostages' families, at the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Prime Minister's Media Dept/GPO/dpa
22 January 2024, Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with representatives of the hostages' families, at the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Prime Minister's Media Dept/GPO/dpa

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mourned the loss of 21 soldiers in the deadliest single attack in Gaza and said the army will fight on until “absolute victory.”

In a posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said Monday was “one of the hardest days since the outbreak of the war.”

He said the army will launch an investigation into the attack, in which a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank, setting off a secondary explosion that brought two buildings down on the soldiers.
It was the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the ground operation began.

In the posting on Tuesday, Netanyahu wrote: “In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory.”



Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.