“There is no substitute for winning. We will eliminate Hamas and save our hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to The Jerusalem Post.
At the same time, he described the situation on the battlefield: “The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have completed the encirclement of Gaza City. They are at the Shifa hospital and killed a lot of terrorists.” The IDF said 150 were killed. “Hamas lost control of the north of the Gaza Strip. They have no safe place to hide until the last terrorist, everyone from Hamas, is dead.”
ON-LINE: Another hospital is out of order in Gaza
Netanyahu, Defense Minister Joav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz rejected international criticism of Israel over civilian casualties. “No amount of international pressure, no amount of false accusations by the soldiers of the IDF and our state will change Israel’s decision to defend itself,” Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel, adding that Israel “will stand firm before the whole world if necessary.”
“Our war is your war, Israel must win for its own destiny and for the world,” emphasized the Israeli prime minister. He told the Arab countries: “To the leaders who are worried about the future of the Middle East, I say only one thing – you must stand up to Hamas. In its 16 years of tyranny, Hamas has brought disaster, blood and poverty to Gaza’s residents. Hamas is an integral part of the terrorist axis of evil that threatens the entire world, including the entire Arab world. I am convinced that many Arab leaders understand this.”
The Palestinian Authority will not rule in Gaza
Netanyahu ruled out that the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, could rule in the Gaza Strip: “There will not be a civilian administration that teaches its children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis or to eliminate Israel, there cannot be an administration that pays the families of murderers . There cannot be an administration that did not condemn the massacre. There will be something else, but in any case under our security control. I stand by that and I won’t give it up.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plans to crack down on the Palestinian Authority: “I demanded that its funds be frozen. The Palestinian Authority is an organization that supports and encourages terrorism, and we will never give up on ensuring the safety of our citizens and hand it over to the enemy.”
Hamas is responsible for the deaths of civilians. Don’t blame Israel, Netanyahu told Macron
Two children died in a hospital in Gaza. Israel will help with the evacuation
