Gideon Sa'ar to European foreign ministers: We must defeat Iran, Houthis, and Hamas 

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke with a number of European foreign ministers today (Tuesday), explaining Israel's stance regarding the hostage negotiations and the importance of fighting Iran and its Houthi and Hamas allies.

Here is the Foreign Ministry's full statement:

Foreign Minister Sa'ar held a series of conversations with foreign ministers from European countries in recent hours.

Among others, Foreign Minister Sa'ar spoke with European Union Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, and others.

Foreign Minister Sa'ar conveyed messages to his colleagues about the background for the renewal of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip.

Minister Sa'ar emphasized that Israel accepted the proposals of US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to extend the ceasefire, but Hamas rejected them twice.

Minister Sa'ar stressed that the IDF is operating only against Hamas and terrorist targets and is working to minimize harm to the civilian population.

Foreign Minister Sa'ar further emphasized in the conversations that Israel will not give up on its war objectives: freeing all hostages, eliminating Hamas' military and governmental infrastructures, and removing the threat to its security and citizens from the Gaza Strip.

Minister Sa'ar said that the radical axis of Iran, the Houthis, and Hamas must be defeated, and that this is the way to achieve stability in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a statement tonight outlining the Israeli government's next steps in this regard:

“Hamas is responsible for this war.

It invaded our towns, murdered our people, raped our women and kidnapped our loved ones.

Hamas refused offer after offer to release our hostages.

In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen.

While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so.

This is why I authorized yesterday the renewal of military action against Hamas.

Israel does not target Palestinian civilians. We target Hamas terrorists.

And when these terrorists embed themselves in civilian areas, when they use civilians as human shields, they are the ones who are responsible for all unintended casualties.

Palestinian civilians should avoid any contact with Hamas terrorists, and I call on the people of Gaza, get out of harm’s way. Move to safer areas. Because every civilian casualty is a tragedy and every civilian casualty is the fault of Hamas.

I thank President Trump for his unwavering support for Israel. Our alliance with the United States has never been stronger.

To those who criticize Israel, I ask, what would you do if terrorists murdered and kidnapped your children?

You would do what we are doing.

In the face of pure evil, free societies have no choice but to fight.

So, I want to assure all our friends around the world, Israel will fight and Israel will win. We will bring our people home and we will destroy Hamas.

We will not relent until we achieve all these vital goals and we will not rest until we give our country a future of peace, prosperity and hope."