Need to devastate Hamas so much they don't think of striking ever again, says Israeli diplomat Tammy Ben-Haim

Consul General of Israel to South India Tammy Ben-Haim on Wednesday said Israel’s priority is to stop the terror and bring back the hostages, and at the same time stressed the need to devastate Hamas so much that the militant group doesn’t think of ever striking the country again.

#WATCH | On the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Consul General of Israel to South India, Tammy Ben-Haim says "...At the moment, we need to stop what is happening now. The terror that is happening now, we need to make sure it stops and not only does it stop and we bring our… pic.twitter.com/U1cNW8JjmQ

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2023

Speaking to ANI news agency, Ben-Haim said, “… At the moment, we need to stop what is happening now. The terror that is happening now, we need to make sure it stops and not only does it stop and we bring our hostages back, but we also need to make sure that we devastate Hamas so much, we hurt their infrastructure, we hurt their commanders that they will not think of ever striking Israel again….” Tammy Ben-Haim said Israel is still fighting to completely secure the country, its citizens and everybody living in Israel.

#WATCH | On the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Consul General of Israel to South India, Tammy Ben-Haim says "We are still in the midst of this attack. The Hamas terror organisation infiltrated Israel, killing over 1,200 people, injuring over 3,000 people, and taking dozens of… pic.twitter.com/2cjciPU4Ty

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2023

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“We are still in the midst of this attack. The Hamas terror organisation infiltrated Israel, killing over 1,200 people, injuring over 3,000 people, and taking dozens of children, women, the elderly, and unarmed citizens back to Gaza as hostages. Army and IDF have taken control of the areas of the towns that are in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip. We are still fighting to completely secure our country, to secure our citizens and everybody living in Israel,” she added. This morning, she said two terrorists were found within Israel and were neutralized. “While all this is happening, Hamas is still bombarding Israel, not just south Israel, but also Central Israel and the cities of Tel Aviv with rockets and mortars…We are in a full-fledged war against Hamas, against a terror organisation making sure this horrible, heinous, inhumane attack…,” said the diplomat. Israel appears determined to crush Hamas’ hold on Gaza, following an unprecedented attack in which militants gunned down civilians in their homes, on streets and at a mass outdoor music festival, while dragging men, women and children into captivity. Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza hold about 150 soldiers and civilians hostage, according to Israel. A looming question is whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza — a 40-kilometer-long (25-mile) strip of land wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea that is home to 2.3 million people and has been governed by Hamas since 2007. Israel stepped up its offensive on Tuesday, expanding the mobilization of reservists to 360,000. Israel’s military said it had regained effective control over areas Hamas attacked in its south and of the Gaza border. New exchanges of fire over Israel’s northern borders with militants in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday pointed to the risk of an expanded regional conflict. With inputs from agencies