Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Sunday that there are still two “pockets” of Hamas terrorists inside the area to which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew under the ceasefire deal.
Netanyahu added that the IDF was busy destroying those pockets, and that it would reinforce its defense of the so-called “Yellow Line” to which it has pulled back its forces in the eastern portion of the Gaza Strip.
In a statement to his coalition government, Netanyahu said (translated and provided by the Government Press Office) that while Israel “reports to” the U.S., it would not ask the U.S. for permission to attack Hamas:
I wish to speak about our struggle against the elements of the axis. The Iranian axis suffered a massive blow. We broke it in many places, and even where we broke it, it still exists, licking its wounds, trying to recover. Our effort is to deny it the ability to recover, and this is what we are doing on the various fronts.
The first front is in Gaza, where Hamas suffered crushing blows; it is a shadow of what it once was, but it is also trying to recover. We are operating on four focal points. One – returning our hostages. Their attempts are pathetic, trying to mislead us, the US, and the world; they will, of course, not succeed, and we will gradually bring back all of our hostages. We are committed to this.
Second – there are still Hamas pockets in the areas under our control in Gaza, and we are systematically eliminating them. There are two in Rafah and in Khan Yunis, and they will be eliminated.
Third is the entire question of risk to our forces, and my directive is unequivocal: If there is an attempt to harm our forces, we strike those who inflict the harm and also their organization, for the purpose of protecting our forces. This is what we have determined.
We report to our American friends; we do not ask for their permission. This must be understood because I hear things that are simply incorrect. We maintain the supreme security responsibility, and we will not relinquish it.
Fourth is the disarmament and demilitarization of Hamas. Disarming Hamas, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip is the principle we uphold. This is the principle agreed upon between me and President Trump. This is how we operate, according to a clear plan. Of course, if this is not done in the first way, then it will be done in the second way, and everyone knows what the second way is and who will also carry it out.
The Trump administration has supported Israel’s effort to police the Yellow Line, and has joined Israel in insisting that Hamas return the 11 remaining bodies of hostages that were murdered in Hamas captivity.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
