Israel moves ‘toward defeat of Hamas,’ aims to rescue hostages ‘along the way’ says PM Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered further explanation about the decision to carry out a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip in a video message on Monday.

Netanyahu’s comments put the focus on a decisive defeat of the Hamas terror group, which some media outlets interpreted as contradicting comments made by IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin shortly after.

Defrin said in his statement: “The objective of the operation is the return of our hostages, the dismantling and decisive defeat of the Hamas regime. These are two goals that are intertwined.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said the intensified operation, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots” by the military, is a move “toward the defeat of Hamas,” adding that IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir believes that “this will also help us rescue the hostages along the way.”

“I agree with him,” Netanyahu stressed. “We are not letting up on this effort, and we will not give up on a single one [of the hostages].”

The question of what the operation’s supreme goal is has caused significant controversy in recent weeks.

Many in the opposition, and representatives of the anti-government protest movement, including large parts of the hostage families, oppose the new offensive, arguing it needlessly endangers the lives of the remaining hostages.

Some of them also demand that the government agree to every one of Hamas’s conditions, including a full withdrawal and an end to the war, in return for all hostages.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently expressed the opinion of many: That a decisive defeat of Hamas should be the supreme goal of a new operation.

Netanyahu didn’t go into detail regarding this question, saying that, “We won’t talk about the details because we’ve already spoken in detail about both of these matters: what we’re doing for the hostages, and what we’re doing for the defeat [of Hamas].”

Army spokesman Defrin explained that the new offensive, which Israel has said will begin after President Trump’s Middle East visit next week,  will “include a wide-scale operation involving the movement of the majority of the Gaza Strip’s population - in order to protect them in a Hamas-free zone.”

“The operation will include continued airstrikes, elimination of terrorists, and dismantling of terrorist infrastructure. We will replicate the model implemented in Rafah in other areas of the Strip as well,” he added.

“Hamas misjudged - and continues to misjudge - our determination,” Defrin declared.

“Hamas is the one who initiated the vicious attack against us, Hamas is the one harming the Gazan population, Hamas is the one bringing destruction and devastation. Just this week, we saw Hamas looting stores and stealing food from the population. Hamas is the one starving them.”

He closed by saying: “We are in a war like no other, a multi-front war with seven open fronts. We will be wherever there is an enemy, continuing to act to protect the residents and serve as a barrier between the enemy and our citizens.”