Gallant: If Hamas isn’t totally dismantled, we won’t be able to live in Israel

By Emanuel Fabian

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17 January 2024, 6:40 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to troops of the Navy's Shayetet 13 unit at the unit's base in Atlit, January 17, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vows that Israel will continue the fighting in the Gaza Strip until the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated.

“If the fate of Hamas is not complete dismantlement, we will not be able to live in the State of Israel,” says Gallant to troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit.

“We continue fighting until victory… until we defeat the Hamas organization, take away all of its significant military capabilities and remove it from power in Gaza,” he says.

Gallant says that regarding the hostages, “we have no right to stop the fighting as long as there are hostages in Gaza. The only way and thing that brings hostages [back] is military pressure, because Hamas understands only one thing.”