Netanyahu: Ending Hamas and Freeing the Hostages Remain Linked

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today (Monday) to the IDF Intelligence Directorate on the importance of adhering to both the government's goals - the freeing of the hostages and the ending of Hamas rule, which he said are "intertwined with one another."

The Prime Minister made this statement as Israel is bombarded with allegations in both the media and by foreign governments of deliberate starvation of Gazan civilians, despite emphatic denials by Israel and clips showing enormous amounts of food ready to be delivered which the UN refuses to pick up.

President Trump himself said that the images on TV point to starvation and hunger in Gaza, even though at least some of those images were shown to be of children suffering from rare diseases, not standard starvation.

Here's Netanyahu's full statement:

"We have a job to finish: the eradication of Hamas and the return of our hostages. We are not giving up on that even for a moment. Those two goals are intertwined. The essence of what they have seen in Iran, though, is that there is no axis. This plan of destroying Israel is currently off the table.

"The precise focus of the intelligence that was obtained, its quality, volume, depth, were simply amazing to me, and were a source of great confidence to me and my fellow cabinet members. Not everyone was privy to that intelligence. It's a tremendous achievement of historic proportions, and it was achieved thanks to your work and the work of your friends.

"It is a historic achievement, and I am not being wordy or exaggerating. These were the capabilities of a power and most of all, capabilities that were on task. I mean, it simply hit like an arrow that you shoot at this wall over there and it strikes with precision. And that was repeated over and over again. This is a tremendous component, this interaction between the government and the military echelons, and then the combination between the intelligence branch, the air force and other branches. That combination brought the result.

"It isn't over yet. We are still completing the tasks concerning the axis. There are still the two H's: Hamas and that band of savages down south. We will deal with them as well. We must first and foremost safeguard the achievement of pushing back the two fundamental threats: the nuclear weapon and the ballistic missiles. And there will be new threats, but in light of the capabilities you have demonstrated, I have no doubt that we will succeed against them.

"You have a great part in the successes thus far, and I wish, for all of us, that you will continue to contribute your part in ensuring the eternity of Israel, and I would like to thank you"