Israel is in an existential war in which defeat is not an option, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Monday’s ceremony at the Mt. Herzl Military Ceremony to mark the annual Remembrance Day.
“It’s either us – Israel, or them – the Hamas monsters of Hamas,” he said, as the country paid homage to fallen soldiers from all its wars, as a time when it was battling the terror group in Gaza.
What is at stake, Netanyahu said, is Israel’s “existence, liberty, security and prosperity.”
Should Israel fail, it could face another October 7th-like attack, in which there would be “torture, massacre, rape and slavery.”
Israel, he said, is “determined to win this fight. We have exacted and will exact a heavy price from the enemy for his criminal acts.
“We will achieve the goal we set out for victory, central to which is the return of all the hostages,” Netanyahu stated.
It is a victory, that “with God’s help, will ensure our existence and our future.
“But the price paid by us and past generations is very heavy,” Netanyahu said.
He spoke as Israel marked its first Remembrance Day since Hamas’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 252 taken hostage. There are still 132 people in captivity in Gaza.
Israel under pressure over Rafah operation
Israel is under international pressure to refrain from a major military operation in Rafah, which Netanyahu has painted as a necessary step in defeating Hamas, but which the US feels will still leave the terror group in power in Gaza.
As he spoke, the IDF pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza’s northern edge to recapture an area where the army claimed to have defeated Hamas months ago, while at the opposite end of the enclave, tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah, in what the IDF described as a limited operation.
With some of the most intense fighting for weeks now taking place on both the northern and southern edges of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have again taken flight, and aid groups warn that a humanitarian crisis could sharply worsen.
Israel described its latest return to the north, where it pulled out most of its troops five months ago, as part of a “mop-up” stage of the war to prevent fighters from returning, and said such operations had always been part of its plan. Palestinians say the need to keep fighting amid the ruins of previous battles is proof Israel’s military objectives are unattainable.
At issue for the International community has been the high death toll, which Hamas has placed at over 35,000. Israel has said that it has killed some 14,000 Hamas combatants.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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