According to the Times of Israel, Eisenkot told the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that there was a need to “end the fighting in Rafah while at the same time advancing the deal for the hostages.” The former military chief, now a member of Knesset, also argued that Israel could halt the fighting “for as long as necessary” in order to retrieve the hostages. Eisenkot pointed to the weeklong truce reached with the Hamas terror group in late November as proof that Israel “can stop fighting and go back to fighting as long as it takes to achieve the war’s goals.” Eisenkot’s comments came after an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah killed at least 50 people — about half of them women, children and elderly — and wounded 249 others. The strike hit a displacement camp in the city’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, which had been considered a “safe zone” since the army had not yet called on its residents to evacuate, as it had in areas in the east and center of the coastal enclave. Since the IDF launched its offensive in Rafah on May 6, nearly a quarter of a million people have fled their homes, mostly to the city’s al-Mawasi beach, where they are huddled together without proper sanitation or clean drinking water. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since October 7, 2023 has risen to 36,050, while the number of wounded has climbed to 81,026. The ministry also notes in its daily updates that over 10,000 bodies remain buried under the rubble, with no way for ambulances or rescue workers to reach them. On October 7, 2023, an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli territory left some 1,200 Israelis dead and hundreds more taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. After a prisoner swap with Hamas during the November truce, 133 Israelis are still being held captive in Gaza, including some who are believed to be dead, according to Israeli officials. See also: Israel vows to probe deadly strike on Rafah camp