(Dan Tri) – Israeli officials said their offensive campaign in response to Hamas in Gaza has just begun.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Getty).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on October 9 that the Israeli army would respond to Hamas with an `unprecedented` strength after this force’s raid over the weekend.
Mr. Netanyahu emphasized: `By the end of this war, all of our opponents will realize that they made a terrible mistake in attacking Israel. We have only just begun to attack Hamas. What we will
He added: `Israel is in a state of war. We do not want this war. Although Israel did not start the war, we will end it. We will win.`
The Israel-Hamas conflict flared up again since last weekend after Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip launched thousands of rockets toward Israel.
In response, Israel deployed dozens of fighter jets and carried out an unprecedented major air campaign on the Gaza Strip.
This is the bloodiest fighting between Israel and Hamas in the past 75 years.
The Israeli army deployed 173,000 soldiers, including 8,000 elite special forces soldiers, along with 300 tanks and many heavy weapons on the border with Gaza.
Israel late yesterday announced it had regained control of all the towns that Hamas forces raided and `completely surrounded` Gaza.
`I have ordered a complete siege of the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,` said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
As for Hamas, this force announced that it was holding more than 100 Israeli hostages and warned that it would execute if Israel continued to attack civilian targets or besiege Gaza.
`We declare that we will not consider or negotiate the hostage issue under fire, in case of aggression or in war,` said Abu Obaida, spokesman for Qassam, an armed branch of Hamas, on Monday.
On the same day, a senior leader of Hamas said that the group is ready to participate in political dialogue or ceasefire negotiations with Israel after Hamas `achieves its set goals`.
According to observers, when launching an unprecedented large-scale surprise attack campaign against Israel, Hamas seems to be trying to create new regional security links to reorganize the security structure throughout China.
Hamas is said to have spent years preparing for this attack.
