Netanyahu: ‘Next slaughter would be only a matter of time’ if war were to end without goals achieved

Speaking at a press conference in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again pledges that the war on Hamas “is continuing on all its fronts, and the war will continue on all its fronts, until all the aims we set are achieved.”

“The victory will take many more long months,” he continues, “but we are determined to achieve it.”

He rejects the idea that Israel cannot win, which he claims is circulated by Israeli media, including “in the TV studios.” His government, he promises, “will not compromise on anything less than total victory over Hamas.”

“We are aiming for complete victory — not just to strike Hamas, not just to damage Hamas, not another round with Hamas,” Netanyahu says. “A total victory over Hamas.”

“We will continue to fight at full strength until we achieve all our goals: the return of all our hostages — and I say again, only military pressure will lead to their release; the elimination of Hamas; and certainty that Gaza will never again represent a threat to Israel. That there won’t be any party that educates for terror, funds terror, sends terrorists against us.”

Stopping the war before that “will harm Israel’s security for generations,” he says: “Ending the war before the goals are achieved would broadcast a message of weakness, encouraging our enemies to believe that they defeat us. And then the next slaughter would be only a matter of time.”

Netanyahu stresses that total victory means Gaza will be demilitarized, with complete security control by Israel, and Israeli control over everything that enters Gaza. “These are the foundational conditions” for the “day after” in Gaza.

That much-discussed “day after,” he repeats, “will be the day after the destruction of Hamas.”

These opening remarks are broadly similar to comments he’s delivered at successive press conferences in recent weeks.