Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday that Israel's fierce offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has "only started."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Video: Netanyahu says Hamas made a mistake of historic proportions / Credit: GPO/X/@israelipm
Netanyahu delivered the pronouncement in a nationally televised address as Israel pressed ahead with a third day of heavy airstrikes in Gaza following Hamas' unprecedented and deadly incursion into Israel.
"We have only started striking Hamas," he said. "What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations."
Israel formally declared war on Sunday. The hostilities so far have killed around 900 people in Israel and more than 680 people in Gaza, according to authorities on each side.
Netanyahu in broadcast remarks recounted how some Israelis were killed during the Hamas incursion, saying tied-up children were executed. This, he said, was on par with brutal killings carried out by Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
"The atrocities committed by Hamas have not been seen since ISIS atrocities. Bound children executed along with their families. Young men and women shot in the back, executed. Other horrors I won't describe here," Netanyahu said.
"We have always known who Hamas is. Now the entire world knows. Hamas is ISIS. And we will defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated ISIS. This vile enemy wanted war and it will get war," he said.
The European Union late Monday reversed an earlier announcement by an EU commissioner that the bloc was immediately suspending aid for Palestinian authorities and instead said it would urgently review such assistance in the wake of the attacks on Israel by Hamas.
"There will be no suspension of payments" at the moment, a terse European Commission statement said late Monday, five hours after EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had said that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be immediately suspended.
No immediate explanation for the reversal was given. The reversal on a 691 million-euro ($730 million) program capped an embarrassing day at the EU's executive at a time of extreme geopolitical sensitivities.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
