JERUSALEM, Aug 1 — 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 in Tehran.
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 neighbourhood.
“We’ve eliminated (Hezbollah chief Hassan) Nasrallah’s right-hand man, who was directly responsible for the massacre of children,” Netanyahu said, in reference to 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 the Gaza Strip. 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.
“Three weeks ago we attacked the Hamas chief of staff Mohammed Deif. Two weeks ago, we attacked the Houthis in one of the farthest-reaching strikes of the air force.”
Netanyahu did not refer to the killing of Haniyeh, which was announced earlier on Wednesday by Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
He was killed at his residence in Tehran along with a bodyguard.
Iranian media said the 2am (2230 GMT Tuesday) strike targeted “the special residences for war veterans in north Tehran” where Haniyeh was staying.
Haniyeh had travelled to Tehran to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Fighters 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. — AFP
