Gaza war exacting ‘very heavy price’ on Israeli army, Netanyahu says

By Enes Canli

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to continue the Gaza war despite its “very heavy price” on the army.

"This is a difficult morning, after a very difficult day of fighting in Gaza," Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli army said Sunday that 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.

The fatalities brought the number of soldiers killed since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict to 486 since Oct. 7, according to military figures.

“The war is exacting a very heavy price on us; however, we have no choice but to continue to fight,” Netanyahu said.

"We are continuing with full force until the end, until victory, until we achieve all of our goals: the destruction of Hamas, the return of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to the State of Israel,” he added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,424 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,036 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara