Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two of his high-profile ministers offered their condolences to the families of three hostages killed by the IDF at a press conference Saturday evening – and expressed their determination to destroy the Gaza Strip and place the area under Israeli jurisdiction. .
“The State of Israel weeps and mourns the death of our three children,” Netanyahu told the newspaper, referring to the deaths of Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka, and Alon Shamriz in Gaza City on Friday.
“It was a shock to me,” he added of the news that the three men – who managed to escape Hamas’ clutches – were killed even after they waved makeshift white flags and may have shouted in Hebrew.
“It has broken my heart, it has broken the heart of the whole country,” lamented the 74-year-old prime minister.
Netanyahu, however, renewed calls for the public to support the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip – which began in response to the terrorist group’s slaughter of some 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Prime Minister of Israel addressed the public on Saturday evening. GPO/YouTube Netanyahu (left) is joined by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Knesset member Benny Gantz. GPO/YouTube
“Without military pressure, we would not have been able to complete the agreement that brought the hostages back in the first agreement,” he said of the first temporary ceasefire that saw the release of 110 hostages in a week at the end of November.
“Without this military pressure, we have nothing,” Netanyahu insisted. “We are determined to continue until the end, until we eliminate Hamas terrorists and until we bring home all the hostages.”
“It’s not politics – this is policy, this is my policy,” he continued. “That is the desire of the majority of the people” in Israel.
The three hostages were killed in friendly fire on Friday. Avi Lulu/Facebook
Netanyahu slammed the Hamas charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel, and also vowed not to allow the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, to control the Gaza Strip after the war.
“I will not let that happen,” he said. “Gaza will be destroyed under Israeli control”
“There will be no one who will educate their children to destroy Israel,” he added.
Netanyahu’s fiery statement was followed by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said he bears “responsibility for everything that happened [in the war]…for the achievement, yes, but also the price we paid.”
“The soldiers of course did not intend to do that, but they killed them with friendly fire,” he said about the death of the three hostages.
Netanyahu also took questions from the press. GPO/YouTube
The Israeli army will now work to educate the troops in Gaza to avoid the same tragic mistake, Gallant added.
“The price, the toll of war is very heavy, and we pay it every day,” he continued.
“[But we are] fight for a worthy cause. We have to pay the price, there is no choice [but for] military elimination against [Hamas’] authorities in the Gaza Strip and to bring home the hostages.”
Gallant said he had full faith in the “justification” of Israel’s passage in Gaza.
“We are fighting in the fairest way that we can, that any country can be involved in,” he said, referring to Hamas as “an evil organization … that kills our children, rapes our women, and kidnaps our elders and kill. them.”
Israeli soldiers prepare ammunition near a self-propelled artillery howitzer in southern Israel. AFP via Getty Images
“Hamas only responds with violence,” he added.
Both Gallant and Knesset member Benny Gantz – who also spoke to the newspaper – said the war against Hamas would be “prolonged.”
“This is not a time for long words, but a time for action,” Gantz stressed.
The three leaders’ statements were followed by a tense question-and-answer session with reporters, where the three discussed Israel’s work against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the potential for a new hostage deal.
Under pressure from several directions, Netanyahu insisted he was “burning the midnight oil” to ensure national security.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
