“We have three goals in this war: eliminate Hamas, return all of our hostages, and ensure that Gaza will not go back to being a threat to the State of Israel.” That was the statement made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the social network X, as he visited Israeli soldiers now positioned within the Gaza Strip yesterday.
Before the Israeli ground offensive, Gaza Strip was ruled by the Palestinian extremist organisation Hamas. The October 7 attacks by Hamas — thousands of rockets fired at southern Israel; civilians killed in Israeli communities; Israelis taken hostage — led to massive retaliatory airstrikes by Israel, followed by an intense ground offensive that appears to have routed Hamas, at least in some parts of Gaza.
Yesterday, in clear signs of Israeli control over parts of war-ravaged Gaza, Netanyahu entered the coastal strip to meet Israeli soldiers, in order to boost their morale, and vowed to carry on the fight “until the end”. The Israeli premier received security briefings from commanders and soldiers, and visited one of the Hamas tunnels revealed in Gaza during the Israeli military action, an official press statement said.
“We are here in the Gaza Strip with our heroic soldiers. We are making every effort to return our hostages, and in the end, we will return them all,” Netanyahu said to the soldiers.
“I am here to tell the soldiers, who all tell me the same thing, and I repeat it to you, citizens of Israel: We are continuing until the end — until victory. Nothing will stop us, and we are convinced that we have the force, the strength, the will and the determination to achieve all of our goals for the war, and this is what we will do,” he asserted, citing the three goals of eliminating Hamas, freeing all hostages, and rooting out the threat to Israel from Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister was accompanied by National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi; Military Secretary Major General Avi Gil; and Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Deputy Chief-of-Staff Major General Amir Baram.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, and other senior Israeli officials have visited the northern part of Gaza Strip during the ongoing war in a clear indication that Israel now has control over the ground across a big chunk of the territory.
Israel and Hamas are at the moment exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners in a temporary four-day “pause” mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. The pause is also allowing humanitarian aid, including fuel, to enter Gaza Strip.
The four-day ceasefire, when 50 Israeli hostages are likely to be released against 150 Palestinian prisoners, may get extended with Israel agreeing to a one-day extension for every 10 hostages being released.