Israel “delivered crushing blows to all our enemies”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, explicitly mentioning the killing of Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in south Beirut.
Netanyahu’s televised statement lasted for approximately five minutes and did not make any reference to the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
But he said that had Israel succumbed to pressure for ending the war in Gaza it “would not have eliminated Hamas leaders and thousands of terrorists”.
He directly referred to Tuesday’s killing of Shukr in a southern Beirut neighborhood.
“We’ve eliminated (Hezbollah chief Hassan) Nasrallah’s right-hand man, who was directly responsible for the massacre of children,” Netanyahu said, about the killing of 12 children over the weekend in a strike Israel has blamed on the Lebanese armed group.
“We have settled our scores with Mohsen and we will settle our scores with anyone who harms us,” he said using Shukr’s nom de guerre.
“Anyone who kills our children, anyone who assassinates our citizens, anyone who harms our country – their head is marked for a price.”
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack on Israel-annexed Golan Heights on Saturday.
Netanyahu defended Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The premier has faced immense pressure from within Israel and abroad to end the war and agree to a ceasefire and a deal to bring back hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.
“If we had listened to these voices, we would not have eliminated Hamas leaders and thousands of terrorists, we would not have destroyed terrorist infrastructures … we would not have created the conditions that bring us closer to an agreement that will allow both the liberation of all our hostages and the achievement of all the war’s objectives,” he said.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 people, of which 111 still remain captive in Gaza, including 39 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 39,445 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
