Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that Israel does not seek to stay in Gaza, but to replace the Hamas regime with an expanded military operation, and insisted that was the best way to bring the war to a speedy conclusion.
“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza but to free Gaza,” Netanyahu said at a press conference for foreign media. “But no one is going to go in there unless we finish the job and finish Hamas.” He noted that Hamas still has thousands of armed terrorists remaining in about a quarter of the coastal strip after nearly two years of war, and declared that Israel had “no choice” but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.
He argued that the best way to end the war was the recently approved military plan to take over Gaza City in order to clear the area of Hamas and make way for a civilian administration that is not connected to the Islamist regime, which led the Oct. 7, 2023 onslaught on southern Israel that triggered the war, or to the Palestinian Authority. (Read More)
