TEL AVIV, December 2. /TASS/. Israel is poised to continue its military operation in the Gaza Strip until all its goals are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters.
Speaking at a press conference late on Saturday, the premier said Israel’s goals remained unchanged: eliminating all military and command infrastructure of Hamas, releasing all hostages held in the enclave and removing all potential long-term threats to Israeli security coming from the Gaza Strip.
"I’m saying it very clearly and concisely: we will continue this war until all our goals are met. These goals cannot be achieved without a ground operation. It was necessary to achieve the results until now, and it will remain necessary for future results," he added.
According to Netanyahu, he kept telling foreign leaders that "there is no other way to achieve these goals but to win, and there is no other way to win but to continue the ground operation."
On November 22, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which came into effect on November 24. Under the deal, women and children under the age of 19 held hostage in the enclave were to be released in return for the release of women and teenagers from Israeli prisons. On November 27, Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the truce for two more days on the previous terms, which were as follows: three Palestinian captives would be released daily in return for each freed Israeli hostage.
On the morning of November 30, the IDF announced that the truce was extended in the enclave for another day. However, early on December 1, the IDF blamed Hamas for violating the truce and said that it was resuming combat in the Gaza Strip in response.