Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed there would be no Hamas rule in Gaza as he attended a memorial event marking three years since the armed group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The Hamas-led attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The armed group also dragged 251 hostages into Gaza, 44 of them already dead. In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed more than 74,200 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Since a ceasefire was declared last October, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,440 people in Gaza, according to the ministry.
Speaking during a state ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said “we have achieved enormous accomplishments, but there are still missions ahead of us, and we intend to complete them”. “We will not allow the ayatollah regime in Tehran to threaten our existence,” Netanyahu said, adding the Iranian leadership was “weaker than it has been since its establishment”.
