Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Says War Must Not End Before Killing Hamas Leaders

PM Benjamin Netanyahu when he met the Israeli military. (Source: Haim Zach/GPO)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday the war should not end before it kills Hamas leadership.

"Our goal is an absolute victory over Hamas. We will kill the Hamas leadership, therefore we must continue to act throughout the Gaza Strip," Prime Minister Netanyahu said.

"The war should not end before that. It will take months, not years," he continued at the Likud Party meeting.

Previously, Israel had not kept its intention to continue hunting down Hamas leaders long after the war was over. PM Netanyahu also previously said the fight against Hamas "would be a long struggle."

Last weekend, PM Netanyahu reiterated that eliminating Hamas was the main purpose of war.

"I want to clarify our policy, the main goal is to eliminate Hamas," he said, quoted by The Times of Israel.

The prime minister then explained three conditions for this to happen, namely the destruction of the rest of the Hamas battalion (17 of 24 of them have been defeated), a cleaning operation, which he said was carried out by IDF through raids on the northern and central Gaza Strip, as well as neutralizing the Hamas tunnel network, "which takes more time."

PM Netanyahu stressed that Israel will not end the war until all its goals are achieved, "removing Hamas, repatriating all of our hostages and ensuring Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel."