UNITED NATIONS, September 27. /TASS/. Israel will not stop its military operation in the Gaza Strip until it completes its victory over the radical movement Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address to the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

According to him, Hamas "has got to go." "Because if Hamas stays in power [in Gaza], it will regroup, rearm and attack Israel again, and again, and again," Netanyahu noted.

Hamas has to "surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages," Netanyahu stressed.

He said that the Israel Defense Forces had killed or captured more than half of Hamas’s 40,000 militants in Gaza, destroyed about 90% of their rocket arsenal and eliminated 23 out of Hamas’s 24 battalions. "We are winning," the Israel premier added.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.

According to the latest data from the Israeli authorities, Hamas still holds 101 hostages.