2024-01-13 23:59:35
On the 100th day of the Gaza war, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again vowed his country to fight “until complete victory” – and defended the military operation. The head of government, who is under pressure from domestic politics, spoke on Saturday of a “moral and just war, unparalleled, against the Hamas monsters, the new Nazis.” Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi announced increased “pressure” on the Islamist Hamas on the 100th day.
“No one will stop us,” emphasized Netanyahu – and sharply criticized the genocide lawsuit filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. This is a “hypocritical attack … against the state of the Jews, which arose from the ashes of the Holocaust, at the behest of those who came to commit another Holocaust against the Jews.” The army found copies of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in the Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip. The Islamists of Hamas are “the new Nazis,” said Netanyahu, quoting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
A massacre by Hamas and other extremist organizations in southern Israel with 1,200 deaths and the abduction of civilians and soldiers into the Gaza Strip triggered the Gaza war on October 7th. Since then, Israel’s military has launched massive air strikes and a ground offensive against Hamas. Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted after the unprecedented raid. The public in his country accuses him of neglecting the security forces’ preparations for such an attack.
“We will continue the war to the end – to complete victory, until we have achieved all of our goals: eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 23,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military operation. Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the sealed-off coastal area, Israel is coming under increasing international pressure.
The Hamas leadership is pinning its hopes on a ceasefire “and is convinced that this moment is near,” said General Staff Chief Halevi. We will continue to be “determined and persistent”. “In order to destroy Hamas, patience is necessary and essential,” he said – and also addressed the ongoing confrontations with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, which is allied with Hamas. “The area in southern Lebanon is a combat zone, and will remain so as long as Hezbollah operates from there,” Halevi said. “Hezbollah risks turning the entire Lebanon into a combat zone, and at a high cost,” he warned.
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