Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Saturday evening, vowed to “destroy Hamas” after the Gaza-based terrorist group rejected the latest Israeli ceasefire offer.
The military operation launched in response to the October 7 massacre would not end until “we destroy Hamas in Gaza” and all remaining hostages are brought home, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared. “We will not end the ‘war of revival’ before we destroy Hamas in Gaza, return all our hostages and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” he said in a 12-minute address aired Saturday.
The Israeli prime minister vowed to stay the course as the ground operation in Gaza was at a ‘critical’ juncture. “We are at a critical stage of the campaign, and at this point, we need patience and determination to win,” he said while addressing the nation in Hebrew.
Submitting to Hamas’ dictates would only embolden Israel’s enemies. “Ending the war under these surrender conditions would send a message to all of Israel’s enemies: that abducting Israelis can bring Israel to its knees. It would prove that terrorism pays — and that message would endanger the entire free world,” Netanyahu added.
The prime minister noted that the Islamic terrorist group had rejected yet another ceasefire deal, refusing to negotiate the release of 59 remaining hostages, of whom only 24 are believed to be alive after more than 18 months of Hamas captivity. “Netanyahu confirmed that Hamas rejected Israel’s latest proposal in the hostage talks, which he said could have resulted in the release of half of the hostages and the return of the bodies of several others,” the Israeli news website YNET reported Saturday.
The Jerusalem Post reported Israeli PM’s address:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the citizens of Israel in a pre-recorded message on Saturday shortly after Shabbat ended. (…)“I will not surrender to murderers. Such a surrender would endanger you, the public. If we yield to their demands, all the tremendous achievements we have gained will be lost,” Netanyahu said.“Hamas has once again rejected a proposal to release half of the living hostages and many fallen soldiers. Hamas rejected the proposal and demanded an end to the war. If we accept Hamas’s demands, it would mean that Israel can be forced to surrender,” he continued.The prime minister reiterated that such capitulation would “endanger the country and endanger you.” (…)He said that while Hamas is vicious and cruel, they are not stupid and will not agree to such a scenario. In addition, the international community would not allow it, and those advocating for such a tactic do not understand how international relations work.“If we capitulate to the dictates of Hamas now, all the great achievements of the war, which we achieved with the merit of our soldiers and our fallen and our heroic injured, all these achievements will disappear. As your prime minister, I will not surrender to murderers who committed the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Surrender like this will endanger the country and endanger you.”
With Hamas refusing to free the remaining hostages, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out an intense military operation in terrorist-infested Gaza. “Over the weekend, IDF troops continued operations in the Gaza Strip to dismantle Hamas terrorist infrastructure both above and below ground,” the IDF said in a statement Saturday evening.
Israeli ground troops were destroying Hamas’s vast underground terrorist infrastructure located in the southern Gaza stronghold of Rafah. “Givati Brigade troops, in cooperation with Yahalom Unit soldiers and under the command of the 143rd Division, dismantled a booby-trapped underground tunnel route stretching hundreds of meters in the Shabura area in Rafah,” the IDF said. “Additionally, numerous weapons were located and dismantled in the area, along with a tunnel shaft containing a cache of explosives.”
Over the weekend, Israeli fighter jets hit Hamas targets across Gaza. “The IAF continues to strike terrorists and terror infrastructure while supporting the troops in the field,” the military statement revealed. “This week, approximately 300 terror targets were struck across the Gaza Strip, around 150 of them over the weekend.”
The airstrike was targeted at “weapons storage facilities, launch sites intended for attacks on Israeli territory, and terrorists who posed a threat to the troops,” the IDF added.
An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon eliminated Hussein Ali Nasr, deputy chief of Hezbollah’s terrorist Unit 4400. The Syria-based Unit 4400 specializes in smuggling weapons from Iran.
“Earlier today (the Israeli Air Force) conducted an intelligence-based strike on the terrorist Hussein Ali Nasr, who served as deputy head of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400,” the IDF revealed in a press release Sunday.
The slain terror commander was involved in an Iranian weapons smuggling operation aimed at rebuilding Hezbollah’s decimated terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon.
According to the IDF, “Nasr operated to smuggle weapons and funds into the State of Lebanon in order to rebuild the Hezbollah terrorist organizations’ military capabilities. As part of this effort, he collaborated with Iranian operatives to facilitate the transfer of weapons and funds into Lebanon, including through the Beirut International Airport.”
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