Netanyahu: Israel will continue war after ceasefire ends

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to his ministers on Tuesday ahead of a prisoner swap deal, said that talk of the war ending was “nonsense”.

“So I want to clarify: We are at war, we will continue to be at war, we will continue to be at war until we reach all our goals. We will destroy Hamas, we will return all our abductees and the missing and we will ensure that in Gaza there won’t be any party that poses a threat to Israel,” said Netanyahu ahead of the cabinet vote.

Senior Israeli officials are holding a series of meetings to discuss a short-term truce deal that would see a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas.

The Israeli cabinet is the last to vote on the deal.