Iranian threats of destruction exemplify why IDF fights in Gaza, says PM Netanyahu during frontline visit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz visited Israeli troops on the frontlines in northern Gaza on Tuesday, receiving security briefings and praising the soldiers amid the ongoing fighting.

“They are doing marvelous work in the Gaza Strip. They are striking the enemy – and Hamas is taking more and more blows. We insist that our hostages be released and we insist on achieving all of our objectives for the war, and are doing so thanks to our heroic fighters,” Netanyahu said.

Today, the dictator of Iran – Ayatollah Khamenei – posted a call to eliminate Israel.

Let me be clear:
Israel will not be eliminated.
What must be eliminated is Iran’s axis of terror. pic.twitter.com/X80p3JmDMg

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 15, 2025

The prime minister also took the opportunity to emphasize the continuing threats to Israel’s existence from Iran and connect them to the fighting in Gaza.

“I would like to tell you what we are fighting for and why we are fighting: It is a post issued by the tyrant of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, today, in which he explains why Israel must be destroyed. He did this during the negotiations with the Americans. We are fighting for our existence. We are fighting for our future.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Iranian leader wrote on 𝕏: “The oppression of the Zionists will be answered with a severe divine response, and there’s no doubt about that.”

The oppression of the Zionists will be answered with a severe divine response, and there’s no doubt about that. However, this doesn’t reduce the duty of the people, our duty, or the duty of governments.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 15, 2025

Netanyahu and Katz were accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Head of Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yaniv Asor, and several division and brigade commanders.

Notably, the trip did not include representatives from Shin Bet, which is responsible for intelligence in the Gaza Strip, raising questions about whether Netanyahu deliberately excluded the organization due to the government's ongoing clashes with it.

Katz stated that the current military operation “is pressuring Hamas, first of all, in order to release our hostages; the more it persists in its refusal, we will intensify the blows that is taking until it is defeated and until the return of the hostages.”

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces reported the elimination of two more significant Hamas commanders.

“In a joint IDF and Shin Bet activity in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF struck and eliminated Mahmud Ibrahim Hasan Abu Hisirah,” the IDF announced on Tuesday.

“In recent years, Abu Hisirah served as the personal aide and right-hand man of the senior Hamas member, Izz al-Din Haddad, Hamas' Gaza Brigade commander. He was active in this role throughout the war and during the preparations for the October 7 massacre.”

The IDF said Abu Hisirah also took part in a Hamas operation during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, during which terrorists infiltrated Israel via a terror tunnel near Nahal Oz and killed five IDF soldiers: Sgt. Daniel Kedmi, Sgt. Barkai Ishai Shor, Sgt. Erez Sagi, Sgt. Dor Deri, and Sgt. Nadav Raymond.

🔴ELIMINATED: Commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion

Muhammad al-‘Ajlah served as the commander of a combat support company in the Shejaiya battalion throughout the war and was eliminated in a precise strike on Sunday night. He was responsible for arming the battalion's… pic.twitter.com/nssidzs9Qh

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 15, 2025

On Monday, the Israeli military announced it had killed Hamas’ latest Shejaiya battalion commander, after eliminating four of his predecessors during the war.

The terrorist Muhammad al-‘Ajlah had taken over the post after his predecessor was eliminated last week. He was “the fifth commander of Hamas' Shejaiya battalion to be eliminated since the beginning of the war, and the third since the start of the renewed operations in Gaza,” the IDF reported.

“Throughout the war, the terrorist al-‘Ajlah served as the commander of a combat support company in the Shejaiya battalion. He was responsible for arming the battalion's terrorists with weapons used to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops.”