Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that in the past week, over 100 Palestinian militants were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), with dozens being killed daily.
Netanyahu made the remarks at the start of a government meeting at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.
“Last week they (the troops) eliminated over 100 terrorists … Dozens of terrorists were eliminated on a daily basis, sometimes even more than this. We will eliminate Hamas, bring back our hostages, and win the war,” he said.
An IDF statement released later in the day showed that Israeli soldiers are continuing to operate in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The soldiers are coordinating operations with armored, engineering, and air forces units to locate and destroy infrastructure and kill Palestinian militants in close-quarters combat scenarios.
At the Sunday meeting, talking about the national backing to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, Netanyahu noted that 9 billion shekels (about 2.5 billion U.S. dollars) have been conveyed to the reservists and their families, and the state also supports the reservists’ right to be elected.
According to a statement from Israel’s Government Press Office, the government on Sunday unanimously approved the signing of an order to postpone local elections until Feb. 27, 2024, which were supposed to be held in October this year.
The postponement was made as 688 reservists, who cannot be discharged, are running in 144 local authorities, said the statement, citing the IDF data.
