JERUSALEM, July 9 (AFP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed efforts to release hostages held in Gaza and the ongoing military campaign to defeat Hamas during talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump.
The meeting on Tuesday was the second in 24 hours between the two leaders, as Trump intensified pressure on Netanyahu to reach a deal that could end what he called the "tragedy" of the war in Gaza.
In a statement, Netanyahu said he reaffirmed Israel's objectives during the talks.
"We focused on the efforts to release our hostages," he said.
"We are not relenting, even for a moment, and this is made possible due to the military pressure by our heroic soldiers.
"The release of all of our hostages -- the living and the deceased, and the elimination of Hamas's military and governing capabilities, thereby ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel."
Netanyahu said military pressure remained essential, though it had come at a high cost, including the deaths of five Israeli soldiers Tuesday in northern Gaza.
Trump has kept up strong US support for Israel, especially over the recent Iran-Israel war but has also been stepping up the pressure to end what he calls the "hell" in Gaza.
The US leader's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Tuesday he was hopeful of a deal between Israel and Hamas, who are holding indirect talks in Qatar that he will join later this week.
But Qatar, a mediator alongside Egypt and the United States, has said more time was needed for negotiations for a breakthrough.
In the latest violence, Gaza civil defence on Wednesday said 20 people -- including six children -- were killed in two Israeli air strikes overnight on a tent housing displaced people in Khan Yunis and a camp in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Gaza's civil defence agency on Wednesday said that 20 people, including at least six children, were killed in two Israeli air strikes overnight in the Palestinian territory.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the first hit a tent housing displaced people in Khan Yunis in the south shortly after midnight local time (2100 GMT Tuesday) and the second struck a camp in the north soon afterwards.
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