'Will wipe Hamas off face of the Earth': Israel's Netanyahu vows to 'destroy' Palestinian terrorist group

“Israel will wipe Hamas off the face of the Earth,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.

“I say here, to everyone — we will wipe out this thing called Hamas,” Gallant said alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We will wipe them off the face of the Earth.”

His statement came on the day the Israel-Hamas war entered its sixth day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu, hours after forming an emergency government and wartime Cabinet, also vowed to keep fighting Hamas, and for the first time, on Wednesday, clearly expressed his country’s intention to “destroy” the Palestinian terrorist group.

Netanyahu said every member of the Palestinian terrorist group was “a dead man”.

“Hamas is Daesh (Islamic State group) and we will crush them and destroy them as the world has destroyed Daesh,” the Israeli PM said in a brief televised statement, the first delivered jointly with his war cabinet.

The statements made by both the Israeli leaders signalled that their country may be entering final preparations for what officials believe could be an invasion of the narrow strip of land, wedged between Israel and Egypt, that has been under Hamas control, a report by TIME said.

The multi-pronged attacks against Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza since Saturday (October 7, 2023) and the subsequent Israeli retaliation have left over 2,300 people dead.

The Israeli authorities said more than 1,200 people, including 155 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, while the Palestinian side put the death toll in Gaza at 950.

With inputs from agencies