Netanyahu Says ‘Israel Achieved All Objectives’ While Hamas Claims Victory for Palestinians

Soon after Israel and Palestine agreed upon a ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country achieved all objectives in Gaza, while Hamas also claimed victory for Palestinians.

The brutal fighting between the two countries killed at least 243 Palestinians, including 66 children.

On the other hand, 12 people were killed in Israeli, including two children and an Indian national, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli security cabinet on Thursday unanimously adopted Egypt’s initiative for a bilateral unconditional ceasefire, which took effect at 23:00 GMT on Thursday. In a public statement, Mr Netanyahu thanked the people of Israel for their ‘resilience’ during the fighting, saying that Gaza operation’s objectives were ‘extraordinarily’ achieved, reported The Times of Israel.

Noting the criticism of the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, he said: “We acted with determination, with wisdom, and with supreme responsibility... I regard it as my responsibility to protect the mothers, the sons, our soldiers and prevent unnecessary loss of life... Therefore, we caused maximum casualties to Hamas while minimising Israeli casualties.” Mr Netanyahu stressed that Israel fulfilled its objective to deal Hamas a blow that “it could not imagine” by destroying a ‘terror tunnel network’ in Gaza.

“None of these were innocent buildings, Hamas offices, Hamas command centres, Hamas weapons stores. We hit rocket factories, weapons labs, weapons stores. And we did this with minimal harm to non-involved civilians,” he said on destroying a building which housed numerous agencies.

He thanked U.S President Joe Biden and says their six recent conversations were all friendly and warm, arguing that Israel had received remarkable international support from dozens of countries and led successful diplomatic efforts with many global leaders.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Hamas claimed victory as thousands of people took to the streets of Gaza early Friday to celebrate a ceasefire with Israel after over a week of brutal conflict, reported