India, Oct. 19 -- Israel on Saturday said the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will remain closed "until further notice".

This comes even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that the war in Gaza would end only after Hamas disarms, AFP reported.

Netanyahu said that the completion of the second phase of the ceasefire was essential to ending the fighting in Gaza. "Phase B also involves the disarming of Hamas -- or more precisely, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, following the stripping of Hamas of its weapons," the Israeli PM said.

He added that when that is "successfully completed", the war would end "hopefully in an easy way, but if not, in a hard way."

Netanyahu's statement came even as the armed...