Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said during his weekly press conference on Motzei Shabbos that the war in Gaza will last many more months and will not stop until all of the operation’s goals are achieved – eradicating Hamas and bringing the hostages home.

“We’re deepening our operations against Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We’ve eliminated 8,000 terrorists so far.”

The prime minister also revealed that he’s pushing back against international pressure to halt the war before its goals are achieved.

Netanyahu then spoke about Iran, including a jibe at former prime minister Naftali Bennett for revealing that he ordered two strikes against Iran during his term. “We act against Iran everywhere, at all times. I won’t go into details,” he said.

Later, during the question and answer period after his remarks, Netanyahu slammed Bennett, saying: “This is a severe lack of responsibility. This isn’t done and he doesn’t have the authority to do so. Only a sitting prime minister [has the authority] and even I would do sparingly.”

The prime minister also addressed the threat to Israel’s north: “If Hezbollah expands its attacks, it and Iran will suffer blows they never dreamed of.”

“We will fight by all means until we have restored security for the residents of the north.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)