Netanyahu: We’ve hit Hamas hard, but ‘it’s only the beginning’

Addressing the nation on the war against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, “Today, everyone knows that we’re fighting for the homeland, and we’re fighting like lions.”

“We are all united,” he says, in a brief statement plainly designed to boost morale.

Netanyahu is not known to have previously spoken to the nation on a Shabbat, and there were expectations that he had something particularly dramatic to deliver.

“Much more will be told of the heroism of our people in the dark days of deep pain of that cursed Shabbat — stories that will be etched into Israel’s identity,” he says.

He says he spoke earlier today with more of the families who lost loved ones or whose loved ones are missing. “Their worlds have fallen in,” he says. “I know.”

“We’ll never forget the atrocities that our enemies carried out,” he says, “and we’ll never forgive. And we’ll never let the world, or anyone, forget these atrocities, [of a kind] that were not done to the Jewish people in many decades.”

We’re hitting “our enemies with unprecedented force,” he says, but “I stress: It’s only the beginning.”

“Our enemies have only just begun to pay the price. I won’t detail what will come next. But I’m telling you, it’s only the beginning.”

He says Israel is garnering “immense international support.”

“We are ensuring the continuation of the war, with more ammunition and weaponry coming to Israel,” he says.

“We will destroy Hamas, and we will win. It will take time,” Netanyahu says, “but we will end this war stronger than ever.”