Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has issued a stark ultimatum to Hamas, warning of devastating strikes on Gaza City if hostages are not released and militants fail to disarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, a massive hurricane will strike Gaza City and the terror towers will tremble,\u201d Katz declared in a statement released Monday. \u201cLast warning to Hamas murderers and rapists: release the hostages and lay down your weapons\u00a0 \u00a0or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The remarks come amid escalating tensions and ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza, where airstrikes have increasingly targeted high-rise buildings believed to house Hamas command centers and weapons caches.<\/p>\n
Israel has made the release of all hostages and the dismantling of Hamas\u2019s military infrastructure its central demands for ending the conflict, which has raged since the militant group\u2019s October 2023 cross-border assault.<\/p>\n
The Defense Ministry has signaled that the coming phase of operations will involve broader and more intense strikes, with Katz\u2019s comments interpreted as a final warning before a potential escalation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has issued a stark ultimatum to Hamas, warning of devastating strikes on Gaza City if hostages are not released and militants fail to disarm. \u201cToday, a massive hurricane will strike Gaza City and the terror towers will tremble,\u201d Katz declared in a statement released Monday. \u201cLast warning to Hamas murderers<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_1160854738579181570_1160854738579181570":"","facebook_3558452337540614_100649324928663":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,353],"tags":[456,980,1074,981,1604,983,1605],"class_list":{"0":"post-14011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-middle-east","8":"category-war","9":"tag-gaza","10":"tag-hamas","11":"tag-hostages","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-israel-katz","14":"tag-middle-east-conflict","15":"tag-war-in-gaza"},"yoast_head":"\n