Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likened Hamas to ISIS in a fiery speech Monday night, in which he vowed that the Jewish nation’s retaliation against the terrorist organization for the killing and kidnapping of civilians “will reverberate with them for generations.”
“We have only started striking Hamas,” the 73-year-old world leader said in televised remarks, as rockets continued to rain down on the Gaza Strip.
He claimed that Israel is in a fight “for our home, a war to ensure our existence — a war that we will win.
“What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations,” Netanyahu continued, before going on to speak about the horrors Israeli citizens have had to face over the past four days.
“The atrocities carried out by Hamas have not been seen since the atrocities of ISIS — children bound and executed with the rest of their families, young girls and boys shot in the back, executed, and other atrocities that I will not describe here,” he said.
“Hamas terrorists bound, burned, and executed children. They are savages,” Netanyahu declared. “Hamas is ISIS.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared Hamas to ISIS in a televised speech Monday night.@IsraeliPM / X
“We have always known who Hamas is,” he continued, speaking of the Israeli people. “Now, the entire world knows who Hamas is, and we will defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated ISIS.”
Netanyahu concluded by saying: “This vile enemy wanted war, and it will get war.”
The Israeli prime minister also reportedly told US President Biden the country has no choice but to unleash an all-out ground operation in Gaza.
“We have to go in. We can’t negotiate now,” Netanyahu told Biden, according to three unidentified sources familiar with the conversation who spoke about it with Axios.
He said Israel had to respond to the atrocities committed by Hamas with force because a country can’t show weakness in the Middle East.
Netanyahu reportedly told US President Biden Israel has no choice but to unleash an all-out ground operation in Gaza.REUTERS
Netanyahu’s speech came as rockets continued to rain down on Gaza.REUTERS
“We need to restore deterrence,” Netanyahu reportedly told the US president, who decided not to try to convince him to escalate to a ground operation, the sources said.
As of Tuesday, the four-day war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives, as Israel saw gun battles in the streets and neighborhoods in Gaza reduced to rubble.
Hamas had also abducted up to 150 civilians, including women and children, who were forcibly taken from their homes.
As of Tuesday, the four-day war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives.REUTERS
It warned on Monday that it would start executing those hostages.
“Every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of the civilian hostages,” the terrorist organization’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.
Just a few hours later, Abu Obaida — the brigades’ spokesperson — told Al Jazeera: “We have decided to put an end to this, and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of civilians we are holding.”
The exact number of hostages being held by Hamas is not known, but on Tuesday the Israel Defense Forces announced it notified 50 families whose loved ones are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.