‘Free Gaza from Hamas’: PM Netanyahu defends decision to expand Gaza war, blasts media for spreading ‘malignant lies’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his decision to order the Israeli military to attack Hamas’ last two strongholds in the Gaza Strip, amid a continuing storm of international criticism of the move.

In a rare press conference with global media, Netanyahu stressed that the goal of the operation would be to free Gaza from the Hamas terror group and to free the Israeli hostages.

Welcoming the chance to “puncture the lies and tell the truth,” the prime minister pointed out that Hamas continues to subjugate Gazans, saying the terror group “steals their food, it shoots them when they try to move to safe zones,” but added that many Gazans are now fighting back.

“They're begging the world: ‘Free us. Free us, and free Gaza from Hamas,’” Netanyahu told the foreign journalists.

The Israeli Cabinet’s decision to expand the fighting again has resulted in a new, intense round of worldwide condemnations, as well as criticism from hostage families and opposition leaders.

“No nation can accept a genocidal terrorist organization, an organization committed to its annihilation, a stone’s throw from its citizens,” he said.

Answering a charge he had faced since the start of the conflict, Netanyahu laid out his five principles for the “day after” the war.

“One, Hamas disarmed. Second, all hostages freed. Third, Gaza demilitarized. Fourth, Israel has overriding security control. And five, non-Israeli, peaceful civil administration. By that, I mean a civilian administration that doesn’t educate its children for terror, doesn't pay terrorists, and doesn’t launch terrorist attacks against Israel. That’s what we want to see in Gaza,” he said.

The best and most speedy way to end the war, he continued, is for the IDF to “dismantle the two remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the Central Camps.”

While his statement after the Cabinet’s decision emphasized the capture of Gaza City and stopped short of describing the goal of the operation as taking over the entire enclave, the two aforementioned areas outside direct IDF control – meaning that Israel will effectively control the entire Gaza Strip after the coming operation.

Netanyahu said that Israel would first call the civilian population to evacuate, allowing it to “safely leave the combat areas to designated safe zones” where “ample food, water and medical care” would be provided.

“Contrary to false claims, our policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis, while Hamas’s policy has been to create it,” he said, adding that Israel has, so far, allowed close to two million tons of aid to enter Gaza.

To further tackle the aid crisis, Netanyahu said Israel would designate additional safe corridors for aid distribution, increase distribution points managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and continue dropping aid from the air.

In addition, the prime minister told reporters that Israel would soon allow more foreign journalists to enter Gaza, subject to security considerations, to tackle the crisis of international legitimacy over claims of intentional starvation.

“The only ones that are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” he stressed, showing stills from a recent video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David, who “is being deliberately starved by these Hamas monsters. And look at the Hamas captor, look at the difference. He's eating, and he's eating well,” Netanyahu noted.

“The purpose of this news conference is to puncture the lies and spread the truth… the international press has bought hook, line and sinker – Hamas statistics, Hamas claims, Hamas forgeries, and Hamas photographs, for example, these three children,” he said, showing images that media outlets had used to support reports of alleged starvation in Gaza.

“The first one is Osama Al-Rakab. He is in Italy, getting treatment, because Israel got him out... He has a genetic disease that damages the lungs and digestive system, it makes it hard to absorb nutrients and gain weight,” Netanyahu said.

“The second one is Abdul Qader al-Fayoumi. He suffers from a genetic neurological disorder – spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative condition that causes muscle wasting weakness and severe weight loss, unrelated to nutrition. This was the real cause of his frail appearance, not starvation. In fact, he was treated in Israel in 2018, doesn't help because it's a congenital disease and it defies most treatments, at least.”

“The third one is the most celebrated one. This is a New York Times cover photo. It's on the front page, of Mohammed Zakaria Ayoub and his mother,” the prime minister said, adding Ayoub is suffering “from a genetic illness, called cerebral palsy. His mother is well-fed, and his brother is healthy.”

Netanyahu noted that Israel is weighing “the possibility of a governmental suit against the New York Times, because this is outrageous. Of course, the correction was postage-size; I don't know where it was buried. But this is outrageous, these are the three most celebrated photos, and they're all fake.”

Concluding his statement, Netanyahu said: “It's the kind of malignant lies that were leveled at the Jewish people in the Middle Ages, we won't suffer. We won't allow it to go unchallenged, and this is the purpose of this press conference. I hope that you open your eyes to a simple fact: Hamas lies.”