As Israel continues retaliatory military action against Hamas in Gaza following the horrific multi-front terror attack on Israel by Hamas on Saturday (7 October), Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant has pledged to obliterate Hamas. Talking in a press conference of the newly formed unity war cabinet, the defence minister said, “We will wipe out this thing called Hamas,” as reported by Times of Israel.
The minister said that Hamas is the Islamic State of Gaza. Yoav Gallant said, “Hamas — the Islamic State of Gaza — will be wiped from the face of the earth. It will not continue to exist. There will be no situation in which Israeli children are murdered and we all go about our business.”
He said that the Hamas terror attack was “the worst terror attack the world has ever seen.” He added, “Children bound together and murdered, people burned, barbaric deeds that the Jewish people has not suffered since 1945.”
PM Benjamin Netanyahu also reiterated his resolve of action against Hamas, saying that “every Hamas member is a dead man.” The PM said in the press conference, “We saw the wild animals. We saw the barbarians that we are facing. We saw a cruel enemy. An enemy worse than ISIS. We saw boys and girls, bound, shot in the head. Men and women burned alive. Young women raped and slaughtered. Fighters decapitated… In one place, they set fire to tires around them, and burned them alive.”
“We are fighting with full force, on every front; we have gone onto the attack,” said.
The press conference was held after PM Netanyahu and National Unity Party head Benny Gantz announced that they were forming a “national emergency government.” The small war cabinet is composed of Netanyahu, Gantz and Defence Minister Gallant. Gantz and the prime minister said that they decided to put politics aside to unify efforts on behalf of the nation.
Former IDF general National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot along with Minister Ron Dermer will serve as observers in the war cabinet. Other than this, the Security Cabinet, which will work under the War Cabinet, will be expanded to include 5 members of the National Unity Party.
In the meanwhile, the death toll in the Hamas terror attack in Israel has crossed 1300, as per latest reports, while over 3,300 are injured. Most of the victims are civilians, as Hamas terrorists opened fired on civilian areas in Israel near the Gaza border. Hamas also abducted a large number of victims are holding them as hostages in Gaza. Bodies of over 1500 Hamas terrorists have been located in Israel and along the border, killed in retaliatory fire by Israeli forces.
Hundreds of Hamas terrorists entered Israel through land, sea and even using paragliders, after overwhelming the Iron Dome missile defence system of Israel by firing over 5000 rockets in just 20 minutes. Israel has launched a massive attack on Gaza Strip following the terror attack, and have struck hundreds of Hamas sites. Israel has also cut power and water supply to Gaza, and have prevented entry of supplies to the landlocked coastal strip.
