Families call for ceasefire as Israel plans to expand Gaza offensive

Israeli officials have said they are planning a new and intense military offensive leading to "the conquest of Gaza and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection [and] … powerful blows against Hamas". Families of the hostages seized in Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel gathered in the Knesset to call for a ceasefire and for the return of the hostages. Udi Goren, a cousin of the deceased hostage Hal Taimi, said: "Hearing that we are going back to war is not what we wanted to hear. We have seen that hostages die during warfare."