Israel has ordered elite spies to hunt down and assassinate ‘every single individual’ involved in the October 7 atrocity as it fights a growing war on two fronts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday warned that the nation was in a ‘do-or-die double battle’ to ‘erase Hamas’ in Gaza while trying to hold back against Hezbollah firing missiles from Lebanon.
He said Hezbollah terrorists in the north will be making ‘the biggest mistake of their lives’ if they fully join the battle.
The establishment of a special unit to hunt down Hamas fanatics who killed 1,400 people two weeks ago echoes the ‘Operation Wrath of God’ by Mossad to assassinate terrorists from the Palestinian group Black September decades ago.
They had killed Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich massacre, and Israel’s ‘Iron Lady’ leader Golda Meir ordered their assassinations – as recounted in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film Munich.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) yesterday warned that the nation was in a ‘do-or-die double battle’ to ‘erase Hamas ‘ in Gaza
A man carries an injured Palestinian child after the Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza
Yesterday Mossad’s sister security service Shin Bet was reported to have established a special unit named Nili, an acronym meaning: ‘The eternity of Israel will not lie.’
It is tasked with ‘eliminating’ everyone who played a role in the Hamas massacres.
Fears are mounting that the Israel-Hamas war could drag the Middle East into what Rishi Sunak called a ‘contagion of conflict’.
As Israel prepares to send ground troops into Gaza to eradicate Hamas, the Israeli PM gave a speech to troops preparing to defend Israel against the much larger Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group based in Lebanon.
In a flak-jacket, Mr Netanyahu declared: ‘We are now in a double battle. A battle for our lives. A battle for our home. This is the war. It’s do or die – they need to die.
‘One battle is a battle to hold action here and on the other side, to win there [in Gaza], an absolute victory that will erase Hamas.’ He warned: ‘If Hezbollah decides to enter the war… they will be making the biggest mistake of their lives.’
Yesterday Israel stepped up airstrikes on Gaza ahead of the ground invasion. It said its overnight strikes had killed dozens of Hamas terrorists. Israeli fighter jets also struck two airports in Syria – amid fears Iran-backed fighters are massing – and a mosque in the occupied West Bank said to be used by militants.
The country has traded fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants since the war began, and tensions are soaring in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have fought militants and carried out two air strikes in recent days.
Meanwhile, Israelis living near the country’s northern border with Lebanon have been evacuated. Mr Netanyahu’s defiant speech came just hours after Iran issued a chilling warning to the United States saying that Israel’s war with Hamas could ‘spiral out of control’ if they do not ‘immediately’ cease strikes on Gaza.
Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles are at their position along the Israel-Lebanon border
A young man transports a bag of food as smoke rises from buildings behind him during an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned: ‘Anything is possible at any moment.’
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Israel’s economy minister Nir Barkat vowed to attack ‘the head of the snake, which is Iran’ if Hezbollah escalates the conflict.
Yesterday in Gaza, Israel claimed the humanitarian situation was ‘under control’ despite the death toll now passing 4,600 – more than three times the number of Israelis killed by Hamas.
Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in the occupied territory yesterday, bringing the number of deaths in the region to 91 since October 7, the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry said.
It came as Israeli president Isaac Herzog told Sky News that Hamas were carrying instructions on how to make chemical weapons when they carried out their massacre on October 7. He said documents found on the bodies of dead fighters in kibbutz Be’eri were ‘official Al Qaeda material’ showing how to build a weapon with cyanide.