2/9/2024–|Last update: 2/9/202408:40 PM (Makkah Time)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference in occupied Jerusalem:
- We are in a fateful war against the Iranian axis of evil.
- The enemy wants to destroy us all without exception.
- My heart breaks as I speak on the phone with the families of the six murdered abductees.
- We were close to freeing the six kidnapped people, but we did not succeed in freeing them.
- Hamas will pay a heavy price.
- The achievement of the 4 war objectives passes through the Philadelphia axis.
- The Philadelphia axis is Hamas’s oxygen tube and must be cut.
- Our exit from the Philadelphi corridor was tantamount to opening the way for weapons and other things to enter Hamas.
- Our exit from the Philadelphi corridor made Gaza a major threat to us.
- There was no previous international agreement allowing us to occupy the Philadelphia axis.
- When Sharon decided to leave the Gaza Strip, I never agreed to evacuate the Philadelphi Corridor.
- We fought 3 wars in which we eliminated many of our enemies, but we did not receive international support to reoccupy Gaza.
- When we entered the Philadelphia axis we felt a change in our favour in the military situation.
- They tell us to leave the Philadelphia axis for 42 days, and I say if we do that we will not return to it even after 42 years.
- Our entry into the Philadelphi corridor forced Hamas to change its position in the negotiations.
- After we left Lebanon, we had to return with the first missile that was fired at us from there.
- I am keen to reach an agreement, but we have not seen any positivity from Hamas towards concluding a deal.
- Our position on the Philadelphia axis is firm and will not change.