Benjamin Netanyahu has today vowed to ‘demolish’ Hamas with Israeli troops on the Gaza border poised to attack at any moment.
Israel’s armed forces is ‘ready’ to defeat the ‘bloodthirsty monsters’, the Israeli Prime Minister said, with a land, sea, and air offensive imminent.
Israeli tanks and troops have gathered on the border and are carrying out simulations ready to spring an invasion of Gaza at any time after Hamas terrorists killed 1,300 Israelis in a surprise attack last Saturday.
Palestinians have been fleeing northern Gaza after Israel dropped flyers telling them to evacuate their homes ‘immediately’.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Hamas was stopping civilians from leaving and released an aerial photo of two vehicles blocking the road as desperate Palestinians crammed into cars and donkey carts to escape the northern area.
Israel’s expanded emergency cabinet met in the military headquarters in Tel Aviv for the first time today as ministers began the meeting by standing for a minute’s silence in memory of those who had been killed.
Welcoming former opposition lawmaker Benny Gantz, who joined the government along with several members of his party last week, Netanyahu said all ministers were ‘working around the clock, with a united front’.
‘Hamas thought we would be demolished. It is we who will demolish Hamas,’ Netanyahu said, adding that the show of unity ‘sends a clear message to the nation, the enemy and the world’.
‘I have seen our amazing soldiers who are now on the front line,’ Netanyahu said. ‘They know that the entire nation is behind them. They understand the scope of the mission. They are ready to take action at any time in order to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against us to destroy us.’
Israeli forces have been surrounding the Gaza Strip as it prepares for a land, sea, and air assault on Hamas, while the United States has sent a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean to deter anyone ‘seeking to escalate’ the war.
In a statement released yesterday, the IDF said it is preparing to ‘expand the offensive’ with a ‘wide range of offensive operational plans’ which it says include a ‘joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land.’