Israel-Hamas war: PM Netanyahu threatens to ‘crush and destroy' Hamas, says ‘they beheaded… and burned people alive’

Israel would “crush and destroy” Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened amid the war like situation with Palestine, and further added ‘every Hamas member was a dead man.’

“We saw boys and girls bound, who were shot in the head. Men and women burned alive. Young women who were raped and slaughtered. Soldiers who were beheaded,” he also claimed

Netanyahu made the remarks in a late-night televised address as Israeli planes pounded Gaza in response to the unprecedented attack. However, the allegations could not be independently confirmed, and authorities did not immediately offer further details, AP report cited.

Later in a post in X, the PM said, Hamas is ISIS. We will crush and eliminate him as the world crushed and eliminated ISIS.

Israel-Hamas war is likely to escalate

The war, which has claimed more than 2,300 lives on both sides, is expected to escalate. Rescue workers and witnesses have described horrifying scenes, including the slaughter of elderly people and finding bloody rooms crowded with massacred civilians.

Israel's increasingly destructive airstrikes in Gaza have flattened entire city blocks and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath debris. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a tiny, coastal strip, would likely result in a surge of casualties for fighters on both sides.

After nightfall, Palestinians were plunged into pitch blackness in large parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after the territory's only power station ran out of fuel and shut down Wednesday. Only a few lights from private generators still glowed.

Amid the conflict situation, Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a war-time Cabinet overseeing the fight to avenge the stunning weekend attack by Hamas militants. Israel is now determined to crush the group’s hold in Gaza.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday called the Hamas attack “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust,” and a campaign of “pure cruelty.” Meanwhile, the U.S. is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence.

(With inputs from AP)