Netanyahu says Gaza City push aims to end war quickly

(Reuters) -Israel aims to take on Hamas' two remaining strongholds in its new Gaza offensive, which it hopes will conclude "fairly quickly" and end the war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

On Friday, Israel approved the new plan to expand its military operations and take control of Gaza City, the territory's largest urban centre, in a move that drew fresh criticism at home and abroad, including from several European countries.

Speaking to foreign journalists at a news conference in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel had no choice but to complete the job and defeat Hamas, given the group's refusal to lay down its arms.

Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state was established.

Netanyahu said Israel was working to increase aid distribution in a "humanitarian surge" being coordinated with Washington while its forces were preparing to move on Gaza City.

"The timeline that we set for the action is fairly quickly. We want, first of all, to enable safe zones to be established so the civilian population of Gaza City can move out," he added.

"I don't want to talk about exact timetables, but we are talking in terms of a fairly short timetable, because we want to bring the war to an end. This is how we bring the war to an end."

(Reporting by Hatem Maher and Maayan Lubell; Editing by David Goodman and Hugh Lawson)

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