'2023 is not 1943': Israel warns Hamas, vows to blockade Gaza until hostages freed

Over 3,600 targets were hit in the Gaza Strip as Israel vowed to continue its war against Hamas until the terrorist group freed all hostages.

The military claims to be assaulting all of Hamas’s resources throughout the Gaza Strip, including war rooms, military installations, facilities for manufacturing weapons, and locations connected to the terror organisation’s top leadership, according to The Times of Israel.

Issuing a stern warning to the Hamas terror group, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday, said that “2023 is not 1943” and in an indirect reference to the persecution of Jews under the Nazi regime in Germany, adding that today’s Jewish people possess “different capabilities.”

In retaliation for the bloodiest attack on civilians in its history, in which hundreds of militants crossed the border and rampaged through Israeli territory, Israel has pledged to completely destroy the Hamas movement that administers the Gaza Strip.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stated on Thursday that Hamas should be destroyed and that it should be dealt with similarly to the Islamic State, or ISIS.

Hamas should be “spit out from the community of nations,” he warned, and those who host Hamas would face penalties.

“Hamas is ISIS and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be spit out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them, no country should harbour them and those that do should be sanctioned” he said.

After the Red Cross pleaded for fuel to be allowed in to stop overburdened hospitals from “turning into mortuaries,” Israel declared on Thursday that there would be no humanitarian exceptions to its embargo of the Gaza Strip until Hamas freed all hostages.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Tel Aviv to express support for Israel, stop the crisis from getting worse, and attempt to liberate hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked America for supporting Israel today, tomorrow, and always while standing next to him.

Antony Blinken assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington was on Israel’s side and that he personally understood “the harrowing echoes that Hamas’ massacres carry for Israeli Jews.”

In his most direct appeal to date, Blinken asked Israel to exercise prudence in its reaction and to take all feasible measures to preserve civilian life from a podium next to the Israeli prime minister at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

(With agency inputs)