The end result in Israel's war against Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip is to free Gaza residents from a tyrannical regime and ensure the safety of the Jewish state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"We're fighting to free Gaza from Hamas tyranny," Netanyahu said during a special edition of "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE" from Jerusalem. "There are Gazans now [who] are fighting alongside us against Hamas, and they say, 'free us, free us from this horrible terror dictatorship.'
"The endgame is [for] Hamas to lay down its arms, to have Gaza demilitarized, which means you can't smuggle in arms, you can't manufacture arms. Third, to have overriding Israeli security control, get all the hostages out, and then have some transitional authorities, some peaceful governance that is not dominated by people who support terror, educate their children for terror or launch terror, and that's where we're going to go."
Israel has the military capabilities to wipe Gaza off the map, but Netanyahu said it is not his intention. Eliminating Hamas and its terrorist regime is the main goal.
"We can bomb them like the allies bombed Dresden," Netanyahu said, referring to the World War II operation that resulted in up to 25,000 deaths from more than 3,4000 tons of bombs dropped by British and U.S. forces on the German city. "We could starve them if we followed the vilifications, these false lies delivered against Israel, and then nobody would be alive already two years later, and then they'll all be dead.
"But they're not because we actually follow the simple rule. We try to move the population, separate the population, and go only after the terrorists. ... We do things that most armies don't do. We text-message the civilians with millions of text messages and phone calls, telling them to move out because we're coming in. Hamas shoots them to prevent them from leaving and blame us."
Netanyahu, who also spoke Wednesday at Newsmax's fourth annual Fourth of July celebration in Jerusalem, said Hamas also intercepts humanitarian aid supplies and accuses Israel of trying to starve the population.
"We still follow those rules, [but] it's costly because we lose very brave soldiers," he said. "But we still do it and there's a job to be finished. The second day of the war, I said, it's not just a battle against Hamas, it's a battle against Iran and its terror proxies, and we will take them out one by one, and we'll deal with Iran, too.
"So that took us awhile, right? ... But we are going to complete this job by finishing the two strongholds that are left in Gaza. That's Gaza City and what are called the central camps. They're on the beach."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.