PM Netanyahu Assures Israeli Military to Continue Military Campaign Despite International Pressure

Israeli army tanks in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country's military would continue to fight despite international pressure for a ceasefire and facing a difficult situation.

"We will continue until the end, until victory, until Hamas is destroyed," he told Israeli Defense Forces troops in Gaza, as reported by Reuters, December 14.

"I say this in the midst of extraordinary suffering, but also in the midst of international pressure. Nothing can stop us," he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the fight against the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip would continue "with or without international support."

"Israel will continue the war against Hamas with or without international support. A ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the Hamas terrorist organization, and will allow them to return and threaten the Israeli population," Foreign Minister Cohen said according to a ministry statement, quoted by The Times of Israel.

While visiting a detention facility in southern Israel, where Hamas members held in the Gaza Strip are being interrogated by the IDF's 504th intelligence unit, PM Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for the military in Gaza, adding "yesterday we experienced a very difficult day when 10 soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush in the northern part of the Gaza Strip."

The total to date is said to be the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the October 7 attack, according to official figures, with 115 of them killed since the ground operation was carried out in Gaza.

It is known that one of Israel's biggest pressures comes from its main ally, the United States, with President Joe Biden most recently saying PM Netanyahu needed to change his hardline government, that ultimately Israel "can't say no" to an independent Palestinian state, which is opposed by members of the right wing Israeli cabinet.