Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Jerusalem: Rebuffing growing international pressure to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to continue until “absolute victory.”
The goal requires more time, he said in a televised prime-time news conference. Echoing the words of his military chief of staff, he added, “The war will last for many more months.”
Netanyahu appeared alone, without members of his war Cabinet, and sought to reassure Israelis that he was determined to complete the stated mission of eliminating Hamas and freeing the remaining hostages being held in Gaza.
As casualties in Gaza continue to rise, Israel has come under increasing international pressure to cease the hostilities. Its closest ally, the United States, has been urging Israel to scale back its military operations and move to a more precise campaign that would exact fewer civilian casualties and ease the humanitarian crisis in Hamas-run Gaza.
About 20,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the war prompted by a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. About 1,200 people were killed in the surprise attack, Israeli officials say, and of the about 240 people abducted to Gaza, 129 remain there.
After days of escalating clashes along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and its boundary with Syria, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia acting in solidarity with Hamas, that if it broadened its attacks against Israel, it and Iran would “absorb blows that it has not dreamed of.”
Netanyahu said he appreciated the support of the Biden administration, reflected in its decision Friday to fast-track additional supplies of weaponry to Israel.
The prime minister added that everywhere he goes in Israel, “I hear the same words: ‘Continue. Don’t stop.’”