Israel’s leaders commemorated Memorial Day on Monday, a usually somber holiday that this year was almost entirely absorbed by the ongoing war in Gaza.
At 11 a.m., sirens announced two minutes of silence, and a formation of four fighter planes then flew over Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. At a ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed once again to defeat Hamas, a promise he has made repeatedly during Israel’s brutal seven-month war with the militant group.
Some 300,000 Palestinians fled Rafah over the weekend as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel says Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas militant group and vowed to launch a full-scale invasion of the city, but the U.S. says a Rafah offensive would jeopardize cease-fire talks and threatened to halt more military aid to Israel. Some 1.4 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in the city.
Israel also pounded Gaza‘s devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had cleared months ago.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated U.S. opposition to a major military assault on Rafah on Sunday, telling CBS that Israel would “be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.
The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 35,000 people, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. Israeli bombardments and ground assaults have caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, schools and refugee centers across several cities.
The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.