At the start of his remarks, Netanyahu said that on Thursday “the cabinet made a dramatic decision to defeat Hamas,” after the IDF took control of 75% of the Strip as part of Operation Gideon’s Chariots. He added that “the cabinet instructed the IDF to move to the stage of decisive victory, and to take control of the last strongholds in Hamas’ hands – first and foremost the terror capital, Gaza City, where the headquarters, commanders and infrastructure from which the organization rules are located.”
Netanyahu detailed the principles for continuing the campaign: “The IDF will allow the population in Gaza City to evacuate from combat zones, as we successfully did in Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir al-Balah. We will allow civilians an orderly exit corridor and humanitarian aid outside the combat zones.” He added that “after months of fruitless negotiations, it became clear that Hamas does not want a deal – it has stuck to its refusal and raised impossible conditions, even in the view of the United States.”
According to him, the conditions Hamas set are: “Complete withdrawal from the Strip, including from the Philadelphi Corridor, which would allow weapons smuggling; release of murderers; and a demand for binding international guarantees that would prevent the IDF from re-entering.” He said: “These are surrender terms that no responsible government would accept, and I will not accept them. Hamas misled us – and therefore I decided that the right way is to defeat Hamas.”
Netanyahu said that: “It was suggested to besiege Hamas and conduct raids, but most of the cabinet believed that this would not bring about a decisive victory or the return of the hostages.” He added: “In the path I led, 205 of the 255 hostages were freed, 248 of them alive. We are committed to returning the 20 who are alive and the 30 who are not. My wife and I are in constant contact with the families – it breaks the heart, and I am determined to bring them all back.” He also noted that “we are at a historic crossroads. I promised to change the face of the Middle East – we broke the Iranian axis, Hezbollah was struck, and the government is working to disarm it.”
Netanyahu also said that “this is a historic achievement that some are trying to obscure – as if saving the lives of 10 million people and ensuring our future for generations is a trivial matter.” He said all of this was achieved “despite heavy pressures at home and abroad to stop the war, even before we entered Rafah. If I had yielded to the pressures – Sinwar and Haniyeh would still be ruling Gaza, and Iran would be racing toward nuclear weapons and producing 20,000 ballistic missiles that threaten our existence.”
He added: “In Gaza too we achieved great successes – control of the entire area, elimination of many commanders and terrorists, and pushing Hamas into its last two strongholds – but victory is not yet complete. Eliminating Hamas is a condition for Israel’s security and our future.”
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Netanyahu earlier on Sunday during news conference in English with foreogn press
(Photo: Abir Sultan / POOL / AFP)
He also said: “We cannot look our children in the eyes and leave the perpetrators of the massacre beyond the fence, just meters from our communities. The test is decisive – our willpower to destroy those who seek our lives versus their willpower to destroy us. I am determined to end the war with our victory, as quickly as possible, and therefore I instructed the IDF to shorten the timetable for taking control of Gaza City.” Netanyahu also addressed criticism in the media: “I hear the talk in the studios aimed at weakening our resolve – they say there is no choice and we must surrender to Hamas, and I say: we must defeat Hamas. I do not intend to perpetuate Hamas – I intend to defeat Hamas.”
Netanyahu added: “I am moved by the heroism of our soldiers. I hear the citizens every day,” and then read a note from the wife of a reservist soldier, written on behalf of the battalion: “We are very strong in order to win. There is no weakness; we have motivation and we have capability – give us the numbers, the reserves, to achieve victory.”
Netanyahu addressed the duration of the fighting and said it was being conducted “with sound judgment,” while setting two main goals – the release of most of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. According to him, the war was prolonged because Israel halted its operations for the sake of negotiations to free the hostages, had to contend with a government “that was in no hurry to provide assistance,” and even applied counter-pressure and imposed an embargo.
He noted that, at the same time, operations were conducted in other arenas, and that Operation Rising Lion – which lasted 12 days – “required six months of intensive preparation.” “That is why it took time to carry out everything we planned, but we achieved tremendous victories in Lebanon, Syria and Iran,” the prime minister said. He added: “I am committed to completing the task – not stopping it. I am convinced that the right way to achieve all our objectives and the release of our hostages is to defeat Hamas. We have reached this crossroads.”
This was Netanyahu’s first press conference before the Israeli media since June, when he appeared for the first time since the start of the war with Iran from a secure facility and answered reporters’ questions via Zoom. Earlier, Netanyahu opened his remarks to the foreign press by addressing the cabinet decision, saying that Hamas has thousands of armed terrorists in Gaza and that the terror organization seeks to repeat the October 7 attacks “again and again.”
According to him, the goal is not to occupy the Strip but to free it from terror, by defeating Hamas and establishing a civilian administration that will not indoctrinate for terror, will not pay for terror, and will not carry out attacks. He presented his five principles for ending the war: a demilitarized Gaza, security responsibility for Israel, security zones along the borders, and a civilian administration that seeks to live in peace with Israel – without Hamas and without the Palestinian Authority.
The prime minister said that “75% of Gaza is under IDF control,” and added: “The cabinet instructed the IDF to neutralize the two strongholds of Hamas in Gaza and in the central camps, while evacuating civilians to safe areas and providing food and medicine. Contrary to false claims, our policy was to prevent a humanitarian disaster – Hamas’s policy is to create such a disaster.” According to him, “Israel has brought two million tons of aid into the Strip, but Hamas looted the food, created shortages, and the UN refused until recently to distribute thousands of trucks through Kerem Shalom.”
