Netanyahu says Israel has 'no choice' but to continue fighting in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said again Saturday that Israel has “no choice” but to continue fighting in Gaza and will not end the war before destroying Hamas, freeing the hostages and ensuring that the territory won’t present a threat to Israel.

The prime minister also repeated his vow to make sure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.

Netanyahu is under growing pressure at home not only from families of hostages and their supporters but also from reservist and retired Israeli soldiers who question the continuation of the war after Israel shattered a ceasefire last month.

In his statement, he said Hamas has rejected Israel’s latest proposal to free half the hostages in return for another temporary truce. Hamas has said it will only free the remaining hostages in return for an Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the agreement that Israel ended.

Israeli strikes meanwhile killed more than 90 people in 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday. Israeli troops have been increasing their attacks to pressure Hamas to release the hostages and disarm.

Children and women were among the 15 people killed overnight, according to hospital staff. At least 11 dead were in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them in a tent in the Muwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people stay, hospital workers said. Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone.

Mourners cradled and kissed the faces of the dead. A man stroked a child's forehead with his finger before body bags were closed.

“Omar is gone ... I wish it was me," one brother cried out.

Four other people were killed in strikes in Rafah city, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a group of civilians west of Nuseirat in central Gaza killed one person, according to Al-Awda Hospital.

Israel's military in a statement said it killed more than 40 militants over the weekend.

Separately, the military said a soldier was killed Saturday in northern Gaza and confirmed it was the first soldier death since Israel resumed the war on March 18. Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said it ambushed Israeli forces operating east of Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighborhood.

Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy indefinitely large “security zones” inside the small coastal strip of over 2 million people.

Israel also has blockaded Gaza for the past six weeks, again barring the entry of food and other goods.

This week, aid groups raised the alarm, saying thousands of children have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations.

The head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean office, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, on Friday urged the new U.S. ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza's blockade so medicines and other aid can enter.

“I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas currently holds 59 hostages, 24 of them believed to be alive.

Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. Around 90% of the population is displaced, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

Frustration has been growing on both sides, with rare public protests against Hamas in Gaza and continued weekly rallies in Israel pressing the government to reach a deal to bring all hostages home.

Thousands of Israelis joined protests Saturday night pressing for a deal.

“Do what you should have done a long time ago. Bring them all back now! And in one deal. And if this means to stop the war, then stop the war,” former hostage Omer Shem Tov told a rally in Tel Aviv.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Federman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

This story corrects the day the WHO official made comments.

Mohammad Al-Qadi carrying body of his nephew who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A view of a makeshift tent camp for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. The poster says Netanyahu's holocaust. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mohammad Al-Qadi carrying body of his nephew who was killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn over the body of Kinan Edwan, 2 years old, killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Palestinians mourn over the body of Kinan Edwan, 2 years old, killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners grieve over the body of Palestinian child Mohammad Abu Nada, killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The al-Atal family's tent is seen after it was struck overnight in an Israeli airstrike that killed several family members, in the Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza City, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mourners carry white sacks covering the bodies of members of the Abu Al-Rous family, killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their displacement tent overnight, during their funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)