Israel is not "going to just sit there and wait" while Hamas rebuilds its capabilities while rejecting two plans presented by U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff for the release of remaining hostages, Tsach Saar, the deputy consul general of Israel in New York told Newsmax.

"It's not a free ceasefire," Saar told Wednesday's "Wake Up America." "We know they are preparing. We know that they are rebuilding their capabilities with the very specific goal of committing the atrocities of Oct. 7 again and again."

Israeli strikes Wednesday killed at least five in the Gaza Strip, with Israel's military reporting it targeted a Hamas military site in the north.

Hamas has called the renewed Israeli strikes a "death sentence" for the remaining hostages being held, and Saar told Newsmax that Israel is "always concerned about their safety."

"We know that they are held in brutal and inhuman conditions in Gaza," Saar said. "But at the end of the day, the two goals of the war of the Israeli operation is to bring back the hostages as soon as possible and to make sure Hamas is eradicated and is not controlling the Gaza Strip."

The renewed Israeli strikes, he added, are "because of Hamas."

"They keep rejecting any suggestion and any proposal for a ceasefire and release of the hostages," Saar said. "They need to surrender. They need to lay down their arms, release the hostages, and the war is over."

Saar also commented on the United States' attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen and President Donald Trump's warnings to Iran about the connection with the terrorist group.

The strikes mark a "very important demonstration" of the "axis of evil" connecting Iran with Hezbollah, Syria, Yemen, and Hamas, according to Saar.

"It's not just threatening Israel, it threatens American interests, strategic and economic in the Middle East," Saar concluded. "I think that the messages of President Trump are very important in that sense. We see that they are trying to launch missiles at Israel and also attacking American carriers in the region, and they should pay for it."

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