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Netanyahu on 100 days of war: We will fight until ‘total victory’

The Israeli premier also addressed the ICJ proceedings against Israel, calling them “a moral low point in the history of nations.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. Dec. 16, 2023. Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. Dec. 16, 2023. Photo by Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night marked 100 days of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip by reiterating his vow to continue fighting until the Palestinian terror group is defeated.

“Today, we mark 100 days of the war, 100 days since the terrible day on which our citizens were massacred and taken hostage. We are continuing the war until the end—until total victory, until we achieve all of our goals: eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again constitute a threat to Israel,” said Netanyahu.

The premier then pivoted to the proceedings at The Hague, where South Africa has launched a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide. Pretoria has also demanded an immediate end to the Israel Defense Forces’ operation against Hamas.

“The hypocritical onslaught at The Hague against the state of the Jews that arose from the ashes of the Holocaust, at the behest of those who came to perpetrate another Holocaust against the Jews—is a moral low point in the history of nations,” said Netanyahu.

“In the murder tunnels of Gaza, our forces have found copies of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In a home in Gaza, they found a child’s tablet with a picture of Hitler as the screensaver. Not for nothing did German Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz, after viewing the atrocities of the Oct. 7 massacre, say: ‘Hamas are the new Nazis,’” added the prime minister.

“The State of Israel, the IDF and our security services are fighting a moral and just war that is without parallel, against the Hamas monsters, the new Nazis. This international campaign of denigration will not weaken either our hand or our determination to fight until the end, because something has changed in the history of our people,” he continued.

“The antisemitism is the same antisemitism, but the status of the Jewish people has fundamentally changed. Because today we have a state. Today we have defense forces and heroic soldiers to protect our people. What happened on Oct. 7 will not happen again. This is our mission. This is our obligation,” said Netanyahu.

“Citizens of Israel, we are on the path to victory. We will not stop until we achieve victory. I know that there are those who doubt this—I am not among them. I hear your call and know that you, citizens of Israel, are not among them either. We are doing this together to the end. I believe in our people, in our soldiers and commanders, and I believe that after the massacre of Oct. 7, we will not compromise on anything less than total victory.

“I say this, on your behalf, to every world leader who I speak with—we will not compromise, and we will not stop. We are continuing until victory; we have no other choice,” he concluded.

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