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Israel’s key goal in Gaza is to exterminate Hamas, says Netanyahu

The prime minister noted that Israel is also set to use "numerous means to return those abducted" back home

TEL AVIV, June 3. /TASS/. The main goal of Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip continues to be the extermination of Hamas and release of hostages held in the enclave, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated.

"We are using numerous means to return those abducted. I think of them, their families and their suffering all the time. We have travelled a long way to have them released but during this operation we stick to the goals of this war, with the extermination of Hamas being the major one of them," he said in a video address released by his office.

He stressed that Israel is set to attain both goals. "This is what we unanimously approved at a meeting of the military cabinet," he said.

On May 31, US President Joe Biden announced details of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas envisaging a possibility of a complete ceasefire. He called on Israel not to miss the right moment. He said that Israel has advanced its proposal while Hamas is saying that it wants a ceasefire. In his words, the Palestinian movement should accept the deal.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.