Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has once again affirmed his stance that fighting in Gaza would not stop until the “elimination of Hamas.”
In a video message, Netanyahu pronouced, “The choice I offer to Hamas is very simple: surrender or die.”
“They don’t have and won’t have any other choice,” he added.
Netanyahu asserted that his troops will fight “until victory.”
The Israeli Prime Minister also said that neither Hamas nor Fatah; the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, would govern the Gaza Strip.
International observers have warned that the elimination of the Hamas movement is an unrealistic goal with no defined endpoint.
Later, Israeli war cabinet member, Benny Gantz said that Israel’s current phase of fighting in Gaza is expected to end soon and army activity in the enclave will be reduced.
However, Gantz said that would not mean the fighting would stop.
“There is no intention to stop the fighting until the return of the abductees, and we will change the reality in the south [of Gaza] as well as in the north [of Gaza],” Gantz said, in comments made as he toured Israeli towns near Gaza.
Gantz also spoke about Israel’s plans for Gaza if it defeats Hamas, saying that it would take many years to change the “reality” of the enclave.
He added that Israel would develop some form of civilian administration to work with the military administration, but that “talk of the Palestinian Authority is not relevant now.”
Israel Told To Cease Aggression If It Wants Captives Alive
Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas; Qassam Brigadeshas released a statement saying that “If the enemy [Israel] wants its prisoners alive, it has no choice but to stop the aggression.”
He noted that Israel had previously assassinated the group’s leaders and resistance fighters, “but that only increased our resolve and determination to take revenge for its crimes.”
He added, “We salute our nation’s fighters who are distracting the enemy, especially on the Yemeni and Lebanese fronts.”
Since the beginning of Israel’s ground operations in Gaza, the Qassam Brigades has targeted 720 of its military vehicles.
During the past week, Hamas fighters carried out 15 successful sniper operations.
The armed wing of Hamas disclosed that its fighters targeted Israeli soldiers in al-Mughraqa area, in the central Gaza Strip, with an anti-personnel missile.
The Qassam Brigades said that the fighters engaged in an armed confrontation with the soldiers, killing and wounding them. One soldier was killed by a Qassam fighter on top of a tank, which was then targeted with a Tandem shell.
The armed wing also said that in cooperation with Saraya al-Quds – the military wing of the Islamic Jihad – an explosive device on a Merkava tank was detonated in the same area
Additionally, the Qassam Brigades said that it targeted Israeli special forces in the al-Tuwam area north of Gaza City and engaged in a battle with heavy machine guns.
At least 11 soldiers were killed, Hamas’s armed wing said.
Hours later, Hamas published a video showing three Israeli captives it said were killed by the Israeli army.
“We tried to keep them alive, but Netanyahu insisted on killing them,” the short video noted.
The video showed the three men when they were alive, smiling and holding white papers with their names and ID numbers.
Another clip depicted all three men sitting at a table in what looks like an underground bunker.
They were identified as Elia Tolidano, an Israeli-French citizen; Nik Beizer; and Ron Sherman, an Israeli-Argentinian.
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