Benjamin Netanyahu: Israeli PM set to make special announcement after strikes hit dozens of targets in Gaza

Israeli air strikes have hit about 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it says falls short of its demand to agree a full end to the war.

Last month the Israeli military broke off a two-month truce that had largely halted fighting in the enclave and has since pushed in from the north and south, seizing almost a third of the Gaza Strip as it seeks to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release hostages and disarm.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would make a special statement on Saturday evening but gave no detail on what it would be about.

Palestinian health authorities said that at least 43 people were killed in strikes on Friday, adding to more than 1600 deaths since Israel resumed air strikes in March.

The military said troops were operating in the Shabura and Tel al-Sultan areas near the southern city of Rafah as well as in the northern Gaza Strip, where it has taken control of large areas east of Gaza City.

Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal that broke down when Israel resumed air strikes and sent ground troops back into the Gaza Strip but there has been little sign the two sides have moved closer on fundamental issues.

Late on Thursday Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza Strip chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of the enclave.

But he dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions”.

Israel has not responded formally to al-Hayya’s comments but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz repeated that Israel intended to achieve its war aims.

“The IDF is currently working towards a decisive victory in all arenas, the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” he said in a statement.

The ceasefire offer it made through Egyptian mediators includes talks on a final settlement to the war but no firm agreement.

Katz also said this week that troops would remain in the buffer zone around the border that now extends deep into the Gaza Strip and cuts the enclave in two, even after any settlement.