Netanyahu Warns Enemies as Israel Elections Approach, Cites Gaza Strikes
Netanyahu warned Israel's enemies against attacking as elections near, citing recent strikes in Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that Israel's adversaries may attempt to strike as the country heads toward elections, delivering the message during a visit to an Israeli Air Force base.
"We have indications that as the elections approach, our enemies will try to attack us," Netanyahu said. "From here, from the Air Force base, from the long arm of the State of Israel, I am sending you a message: Don't mess with us, not now and not ever. Our long arm will reach you anywhere, anytime."
Netanyahu said Israel had killed more than 100 militants in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks. He also referred to operations in Lebanon and to the killing of a militant he said had kidnapped former hostages Noa Argamani and Avinatan Or, as well as the killing of a Hamas commander in the northern Gaza Strip.
The prime minister acknowledged what he described as significant pressures on Israel to scale back its military campaign. "There are tremendous achievements, but there are also tremendous pressures, and the pressures are to retreat, to give up the great achievements attained by the bravery of our fighters," he said. "I am not letting this happen, I will not let this happen."
Separately, officials at Shifa Hospital reported that a woman was killed and her husband wounded when an Israeli strike hit a rooftop in Gaza City on Monday. The Israeli military said it was aware of the strike and was reviewing its results.
A second strike later on Monday, on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, left one person critically injured, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. The Israeli military said it had targeted a "military operative" but did not immediately provide further details or identify the individual.
More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago, about half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, whose records are regarded as reliable by international organizations. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.