“I would like to clarify to them that it is just the beginning,” the Israeli prime minister said in a message to Hamas.
By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday night that Hamas in the Gaza Strip has “already felt our strength” since the Israel Defense Forces returned to fighting, warning that future ceasefire negotiations with the terror group “will only take place under fire.”
“Going forward, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing intensity. And I want to assure you: This is just the beginning,” he vowed in a primetime address from the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
הצהרה חשובה אליכם אזרחי ישראל >> pic.twitter.com/5bHuTbV0tp
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 18, 2025
The prime minister noted that “for many weeks, we worked tirelessly to achieve one goal: to exhaust efforts to return our hostages. We extended the ceasefire [in Gaza]for weeks, despite not receiving any hostages.”
He continued, saying “we sent delegations to Doha. We sent delegations to Cairo. We brought up proposals together with the mediators. We accepted the proposal of the American envoy, [Steve] Witkoff.”
However, Hamas “repeatedly rejected every offer,” he said.
“We will continue to fight to achieve all the goals of this war—releasing all our hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that the Gaza Strip will no longer be a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu promised.
The premier stated that the decision to return to fighting in Gaza was made following a recommendation from the Israel Defense Forces and other security officials, denouncing left-wing claims that the campaign was launched for political considerations as “lies” and “echoing Hamas propaganda.”
“It’s already been proven during the two previous [hostage]liberation phases, in which we released 196 of our hostages, that military pressure is a necessary condition for the release of additional hostages,” he said.
“My heart—all of our hearts—is with the hostages and their families. They are going through an inhuman nightmare every day and every minute,” stressed Netanyahu, again vowing to “work tirelessly to free your loved ones, our precious ones, both the living and the dead.”
He added that “the campaign is not over yet,” noting the Houthi missile attack that triggered air-raid sirens in the country’s south just shortly before he started his address to the nation.
“We are in the midst of the war of revival, the seven-front war, and we are winning it!” declared the prime minister. “And, of course, we still have a great deal of work to do against other parts of the axis of evil.”
“But of one thing I am certain: We can defeat them, and we will defeat them. With God’s help, together we will do it—and together, we will win,” Netanyahu’s four-minute televised address concluded.
The IDF announced early on Tuesday morning that it had launched “extensive” strikes against terror targets in Gaza. Netanyahu’s office said the military was acting after the Hamas terror group rebuffed several proposals from Witkoff to extend the ceasefire in the coastal enclave during the Ramadan and Passover holidays.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” said Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office. The goal of the military campaign in Gaza remains to achieve “the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon, including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” the statement added.
‘Every civilian casualty is the fault of Hamas’
In a separate English-language statement on Tuesday night, Netanyahu emphasized that the Jewish state “does not target Palestinian civilians.”
“We target Hamas terrorists,” he said. “And when these terrorists embed themselves in civilian areas, when they use civilians as human shields, they are the ones who are responsible for all unintended casualties.
“Palestinian civilians should avoid any contact with Hamas terrorists, and I call on the people of Gaza, get out of harm’s way. Move to safer areas. Because every civilian casualty is a tragedy and every civilian casualty is the fault of Hamas,” according to the prime minister.
Netanyahu in the statement again thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his “unwavering support” for the Jewish state, adding that Jerusalem’s relationship with Washington “has never been stronger.”
“To those who criticize Israel, I ask: What would you do if terrorists murdered and kidnapped your children? You would do what we are doing. In the face of pure evil, free societies have no choice but to fight,” said the prime minister.
Israel launched its military campaign in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were slaughtered and another 251 kidnapped to Gaza.