Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed his nation will turn “all of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in” into “rubble.”
As BizPac Review reported, the Israeli leader announced to his citizens, “We are at war,” in response to a brutal surprise attack on a Jewish holiday by the militant Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas.
“This morning, on Shabbat and a holiday, Hamas invaded Israeli territory and murdered innocent citizens including children and the elderly,” Netanyahu stated in a speech on Saturday evening. “Hamas has started a brutal and evil war.”
שידור חי: https://t.co/AP0XP6oSp8
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 7, 2023
“We will be victorious in this war despite an unbearable price,” he stated. “This is a very difficult day for all of us.”
Videos — many too graphic to share here — have gone viral on social media, showing Hamas gunmen slaughtering civilians and desecrating their corpses in the streets.
“We will win this war, but the price will be unbearably heavy. Hamas wants to murder us all,” Netanyahu said.
“Murdering children and mothers in their homes, in their beds. It is an enemy that kidnaps elderly people, children, young girls.”
“What happened today has never been… pic.twitter.com/oB3ImCYi9c
— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) October 7, 2023
“Hamas wants to murder us all,” Netanyahu said. “This is an enemy that murders children and mothers in their homes, in their beds, an enemy that abducts the elderly, children and young women, that slaughters and massacres our citizens, including children, who simply went out to enjoy the holiday.”
The prime minister promised to use the full strength of Israel’s military to defeat Hamas and warned “residents of Gaza” to “leave now”:
What happened today is unprecedented in Israel – and I will see to it that it does not happen again.
The entire government is behind this decision.
The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities. We will destroy them and we will forcefully avenge this dark day that they have forced on the State of Israel and its citizens.
As Bialik wrote: ‘Revenge for the blood of a little child has yet been devised by Satan’.
All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere.
But it is no longer just Hamas that Netanyahu must defeat — and the war is already expanding beyond Gaza.
According to Reuters, “Hezbollah, an armed Lebanese Islamist party backed by Iran, said on Sunday it had launched guided rockets and artillery onto three posts in the Shebaa Farms ‘in solidarity’ with the Palestinian people.”
“The Israeli military said on Sunday it fired artillery into an area of Lebanon where cross-border fire was launched,” the outlet reports. “‘IDF (Israel Defense Forces) artillery is currently striking the area in Lebanon from where a shooting was carried out,’ it said.”
According to Israel’s military, one of its drones struck a Hezbollah post in the area of Har Dov, an area in Shebaa.
“At this point, there is no further threat in Har Dov or the northern arena,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
Hours later, a second exchange of fire took place. Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that “rockets fired from Lebanon again hit Israeli positions in the Shebaa Farms and that Israel responded with artillery fire on the village of Kfar Shouba.”
And, in Egypt, the Associated Press reports, “An Egyptian policeman opened fire on Israeli tourists in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian, according to Egypt’s Interior Ministry.”
This morning, on Shabbat and a holiday, Hamas invaded Israeli territory and murdered innocent citizens including children and the elderly. Hamas has started a brutal and evil war.
We will be victorious in this war despite an unbearable price. This is a very difficult day for all…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 8, 2023
Netanyahu delivered a warning to Hamas regarding Israeli hostages.
“We are all praying for the well-being of the wounded and all those who are being held hostage,” he said. “I say to Hamas: You are responsible for their well-being. Israel will settle accounts with anyone who harms one hair on their heads.”
And he offered praise and support for the nation’s IDF soldiers.
“To our beloved IDF soldiers, police officers and security forces personnel, remember that you are the continuation of the heroes of the Jewish people, of Joshua, Judah Maccabee and the heroes of 1948 and of all of Israel’s wars,” Netanyahu said. “You are now fighting for the home and future of us all. We are all with you. We all love you. We all salute you.”
“This war will take time. It will be difficult. Challenging days are ahead of us,” the prime minister concluded. “However, I can promise one thing: With the help of G-d, the forces that we all have in common and our faith in the Eternal One of Israel, we will win.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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