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Netanyahu calls for hostages to be released during Gaza visit

The statement did not specify where in northern Gaza Netanyahu visited or mention Hamas' claim on Tuesday that it had lost contact with those guarding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the military purportedly bombed their location.

A statement released by the prime minister's office said Netanyahu received a security briefing in northern Gaza. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited northern Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied by the country’s defense minister, head of the military and other senior officials, his office said.

A statement released by the prime minister’s office said Netanyahu received a security briefing in northern Gaza on the military’s effort to free Israeli hostages and to defeat Hamas.

“We insist that our hostages be released and we insist on achieving all of our objectives for the war, and are doing so thanks to our heroic fighters,” Netanyahu’s office cited the prime minister as saying during a meeting with soldiers.

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The statement did not specify where in northern Gaza Netanyahu visited or mention Hamas’ claim on Tuesday that it had lost contact with those guarding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the military purportedly bombed their location.

The Palestinian militant group still holds 59 hostages. Almost 200 hostages have been released by Hamas or rescued by the Israeli military over the course of the war, now in its 18th month.

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