Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asserted that Israel has no choice but to “finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas”, as the Palestinian militant group refuses to lay down its arms, The Guardian reported.
Netanyahu claimed that Israel now controls roughly 70–75% of Gaza, but two “remaining strongholds” – Gaza City and the central camps including al-Mawasi – still house Hamas fighters.
According to The Guardian report, Netanyahu described the offensive as the “speediest” route toward ending the bloody war, saying they will secure civilian safety by guiding residents into designated safe zones stocked with food, water, and medical aid.
“Contrary to false claims, our policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis while Hamas’s policy is to create it,” the Israeli PM stressed, per the publication.
Addressing widespread concerns over the volume of humanitarian aid delivered, Netanyahu further said, “Since the beginning of the war, Israel has let in close to two million tonnes of aid… if we had a starvation policy no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war.”
What Comes After Hamas? ‘A Civilian Administration, Not Occupation’
Netanyahu insisted that Israel’s aim isn’t to occupy Gaza forever but to remove Hamas and install a neutral, civilian administration.
“Gaza will be demilitarised, Israel will have overriding security responsibility… a civilian administration will be established in Gaza that will seek to live in peace with Israel,” The Guardian quoted the Israeli PM as saying as he outlined plans for a security buffer on Israel’s border with Gaza and called for hostages’ release and Hamas’s disarmament as essential to ending the conflict.
International outrage Grows
Meanwhile, nine European nations, including Spain and Ireland, slammed the Gaza City offensive as a “flagrant violation of international law,” saying it would endanger the remaining hostages and forcibly displace up to one million civilians in the war-ravaged enclave.
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate, with recent figures suggesting that only 14% of required aid — about 1,210 trucks — made it into the Strip over the past two weeks. Gaza’s Government Media Office, meanwhile, said that most of this aid was looted amid organized chaos.
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