Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack in a statement shared on social media Tuesday, calling it “a fateful war for our existence” and declaring that Israel’s “enemies didn’t break us.”
“Infants, children and the elderly were murdered,” Netanyahu said in his remarks shared on X. He added that 251 men and women were taken into tunnels in the Gaza Strip, figures the IDF later released.
Netanyahu said that he and his wife, Sara, “bow our heads in memory of our martyrs and fallen,” while pledging that Israel “continues to work in every way to return all the abductees, both the living and the fallen.”
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack remains the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israeli soldiers watch the northern Gaza Strip from southern Israel, July 30. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
“Our bloodthirsty enemies hit us hard, but they did not break us,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu concluded his statement with a call for unity, vowing to pursue three central war aims: the return of all hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s control in Gaza, and a permanent guarantee that the territory will never again threaten Israel.
“Together we will stand, and together, with God’s help, we will win,” he said.
Negotiators from Israel and Hamas have convened in Egypt this week to discuss details on President Donald Trump’s peace plan to end the war in Gaza and return 48 Israeli hostages.
