Netanyahu says Israeli forces to stay in Gaza to pressure Hamas to disarm

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israeli forces will remain in the Gaza Strip to maintain pressure on Hamas until the group disarms and the enclave is demilitarized.

In a televised address a day after his government approved a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, Netanyahu said the Israeli military "remains deep inside the strip and holds all the positions that control it."

"In this way, we are encircling Hamas from every direction ahead of the next stages of the plan, in which Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized," he said. "If this is achieved the easy way -- that will be good. If not, it will be achieved the hard way."

He said that 20 living hostages and 28 bodies would be released in the coming days.

According to Hamas, the bodies of the deceased may be handed over later than those of the living.

Under the agreement, the Israeli army will halt fighting and partially withdraw from the Gaza Strip, while Hamas will release all remaining detainees in exchange for Israel freeing more than 2,000 Palestinian detainees.

The agreement also stipulates that trucks with food and medical supplies will be allowed into Gaza to provide relief for about 2 million residents, most of whom have been displaced several times by Israeli airstrikes.

Two years of Israeli strikes have left Gaza in ruins, caused famine, and killed more than 67,000 people, according to the Gaza health authorities.