Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that Israel does not seek to stay in Gaza, but to replace the Hamas regime with an expanded military operation, and insisted that was the best way to bring the war to a speedy conclusion.

“Our goal is not to occupy Gaza but to free Gaza,” Netanyahu said at a press conference for foreign media. “But no one is going to go in there unless we finish the job and finish Hamas.”

He noted that Hamas still has thousands of armed terrorists after nearly two years of war in about a quarter of the coastal strip, and declared that Israel had “no choice” but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas.

He argued that the best way to end the war was the recently approved military plan to take over Gaza City in order to clear the are

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