“We guarantee that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference in Tel Aviv this Saturday.
The war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza, which is entering its 13th week, “will continue for many more months until Hamas is eliminated and the hostages are released,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
“We guarantee that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel,” he added at a news conference in Tel Aviv, saying that “it will take more time to achieve absolute victory and achieve all our goals.”
“Hamas will be defeated”
The prime minister reported “heavy shelling” by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip: “It is a complex battle, but we have the upper hand; we have eliminated more than 8,000 terrorists,” he said.
“We are attacking high-ranking officials, and we will also eliminate Hamas leaders. Hamas will be defeated,” emphasized Benjamin Netanyahu.
This devastating war was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7 that killed around 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on data from Israeli officials. In addition, around 250 people were kidnapped, 129 of whom are still being held hostage in Gaza.
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy the Islamist movement and is relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip. According to the army, ground operations were also carried out there, killing 170 Israeli soldiers. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip killed 21,672 people, mostly women, teenagers and children.
Hamas ultimatum rejected by Israel
Responding to a question about the ongoing negotiations in Cairo, Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Hamas had given a whole series of ultimatums that we rejected.” “We see a change (but) I don't want to raise expectations,” he added. A Hamas delegation arrived in the Egyptian capital on Friday to discuss an Egyptian plan to reach a ceasefire.
On Saturday evening, at least a thousand people gathered in Tel Aviv to demand from the government a “comprehensive plan” for the repatriation of all hostages, rather than “a partial agreement” that affects only some of them, according to an AFP journalist. according to the organizers.
Chanting “Bring them home!”, demonstrators held signs with portraits of those still held in Gaza. “The scariest thought in Gaza was that of being forgotten,” Moran Stela Yanai, a former hostage who was released after 54 days of captivity, told the crowd.