Netanyahu, Gallant, Gantz after deadliest day for IDF in Gaza: ‘We bow our heads, but won’t stop before complete victory’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz give a joint video statement in which they pledge that the war will continue at full strength despite the loss of 24 soldiers yesterday.

“We bow our heads in memory of our fallen, and yet we do not for a moment stop striving for an irreplaceable goal – the achievement of complete victory,” says Netanyahu, ahead of a meeting in Ramat Korazim with heads of municipalities in the north. “Together we will fight – and together we will win.”

“We continue at this time in the spirit of the fallen,” adds Gallant, “to complete the tasks and do everything that is required. Our forces are operating deep in enemy territory, in Khan Younis; fighters from the Paratroopers, the 7th Brigade, from Givati, across the entire southern region.”

Turning to the northern border, Gallant says that Israel is “keeping an eye on everything that happens in the north. Hezbollah continues to provoke…

“We are prepared, we do not want war, but we are ready for any situation that may develop in the north.”

“This morning our hearts are all broken in the face of the fallen and the families, and our hearts are all whole in the important task for which they fell and which remains for us to fulfill: to ensure the safety of Israel, the safety of our children and our future in this place,” says Gantz.

“We will do it together, we will do it in unity. I ask to strengthen the bereaved families, to know that we have to continue. I have no doubt that when they set out on their mission yesterday, they intended for us to continue, and that is what we will do,” Gantz says.