Families of Israeli captives said that expanding a military operation in northern Israel without finalising a hostage swap deal with Hamas is “a death sentence” for the hostages in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

“As long as Netanyahu is in power, the war will go on forever,” the families said at a rally in Tel Aviv, according to the Haaretz newspaper.​​​​​​​

“Expanding the war in the north without a deal is a death sentence for them (hostages),” they said. “Netanyahu decided to shift the focus to the north and abandon all the hostages in the death tunnels.”