Netanyahu Floats More Targeted Strikes in Gaza as Herzog Sounds Alarm Over Deepening Divisions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel intends to carry out further targeted operations in the Gaza Strip, while President Isaac Herzog cautioned that deepening social divisions pose a growing challenge ahead of the country’s next general election.

Speaking during a ceremony at Mount Herzl cemetery in west Jerusalem on the third anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza, Netanyahu said: “We still have tasks ahead of us, and we are determined to complete them.”

He also vowed that Hamas would not be allowed to govern the enclave.

Since the war began, Israeli forces have carried out operations aimed at killing senior Hamas figures both inside and outside the occupied Palestinian territories. Those operations have also resulted in civilian casualties.

Palestinian authorities say that since October 2023, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,000 people and injured over 175,000, while destroying roughly 90% of the territory’s infrastructure.

Netanyahu has led Israel’s government since late 2022, a coalition often described as the most right-wing in the country’s history. He faces corruption charges at home that could lead to prison sentences if he is convicted, and he has also been targeted by the International Court of Justice since 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Herzog, by contrast, focused on internal Israeli divisions in the run-up to the legislative vote scheduled for October 27.

“We must also confront what is happening to us inside our own home,” he said.

“In these days, in the midst of the election campaign, we must look at and heed the flashing warning lights — those pointing to dangerous disputes and deep division,” he added.

The upcoming vote will be Israel’s first general election since the war in Gaza began.

Opposition parties have increased coordination in an effort to unseat Netanyahu’s government through the ballot box.

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