Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to sustain the fight against Hamas, declaring that every member of the Palestinian militant group was ‘a dead man’ and will be wiped away from the surface of the earth.
In his statement which sighted by Africa Today News, New York on Thursday morning, Netanyahu expressed Israel’s intention to “destroy” Hamas following its surprise attack on Saturday.
‘Hamas is the Daesh (Islamic State group) and we will crush them and destroy them as the world has destroyed Daesh.
‘We will wipe Hamas off the face of the earth,’ he said in a brief televised statement, the first delivered jointly with his war cabinet.
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Earlier, Netanyahu temporarily settled his political differences and set up an emergency government including centrist former defence minister Benny Gantz for the duration of the crisis.
The statements made by both the Israeli leaders signalled that their country may be entering final preparations for what officials believe could be an invasion of the narrow strip of land, wedged between Israel and Egypt, that has been under Hamas control.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the multi-pronged attacks against Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza since Saturday (October 7, 2023) and the subsequent Israeli retaliation have left over 2,300 people dead.
The Israeli authorities said more than 1,200 people, including 155 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, while the Palestinian side put the death toll in Gaza at 950.
Meanwhile, residents of the Gaza Strip scrambled to find safety Wednesday on morning, as Israeli warplanes hammered neighborhood after neighborhood in the tiny coastal enclave, as it ramps up retaliatory moves for the deadly weekend attack by Hamas militants.
Humanitarian organisations urged for the development of corridors to send help into Gaza, warning that hospitals overrun with injured patients were running out of supplies, as Gazans crammed into UN schools and a decreasing number of secure neighbourhoods.
Food, gasoline, and medical supplies can no longer be imported into Gaza by Israel, while the only route from Egypt was closed on Tuesday as a result of airstrikes near the border crossing.