Israeli PM reaffirms temporary cease-fire possible only if hostages in Gaza released

JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reaffirmed that a temporary cease-fire in the Gaza Strip is possible only if "we can get our hostages back."

Netanyahu made the remarks in an interview with U.S. news outlet CBS published on Thursday, during which he hailed that the ground operation conducted by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has brought Israel closer to its target of securing the release of about 240 hostages held in Gaza.

His remarks came as thousands of Israeli protesters, including hostages' family members, continued to march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to call for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza. They are supposed to arrive in Jerusalem on Saturday evening and rally outside the Prime Minister's Office.

On the operations against Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, the Israeli prime minister claimed that there are "strong indications" that some of the hostages were held in the hospital, citing it as "one of the reasons we entered the hospital."

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army announced that the body of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas militants during the Oct. 7 attacks was returned to Israel after being discovered in a building adjacent to Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital.

Insisting that the hospital is also serving as an arms cache, an accusation repeatedly denied by Hamas and the hospital administration, the IDF carried out two days of combing and searching inside the hospital.

In addition, the IDF continued operations overnight in Gaza, and its fighter jets struck many targets in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli troops took control of a stronghold of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, where heavy rockets were found, and stormed a school where the IDF said Hamas militants were hiding, according to an IDF statement on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, rockets were launched from Gaza to Israel's Tel Aviv and surrounding cities on Friday evening, with no immediate injuries reported.

On the Lebanon front, Hezbollah continued exchanges of fire with Israeli forces, causing three Israeli injuries and damage to two Lebanese military centers and over 28 houses in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli media reports and Lebanese military sources, who asked to remain anonymous.

The sources said Israeli forces fired more than 175 missiles and carried out 12 air raids targeting dozens of Lebanese border towns and villages, while three batches of missiles and three drones were fired from southern Lebanon toward Israeli sites and targets.

Also on Friday, Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi confirmed in a press conference that Israel has approved the transfer of two fuel trucks into Gaza every day, in a bid to maintain the operation of the sewage treatment system in Gaza and prevent the spread of disease.

The decision, however, triggered outrage from Israeli politicians, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and opposition lawmaker Avigdor Liberman.

On the same day, six trucks carrying 150,000 liters of diesel crossed the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, the sole point connecting Gaza with Egypt's North Sinai province, according to Egyptian media reports.

Israel launched a massive attack on Gaza in retaliation for the surprise strike led by Hamas on Oct. 7, in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The ongoing conflict, raging into the second month, has killed more than 12,000 Palestinians, wounded some 30,000 others in the coastal enclave, and dragged the territory into a critical humanitarian crisis.