Nobody will hit Israel and get away with it. We are at war, but we are not targeting the people of Gaza but the terrorist organisation of Hamas, and we will win.
We are thankful that we have the opportunity, if needed, to be assisted by Cyprus, which will be considered in our planning ahead.
Israel was viciously attacked on Saturday morning by this barbaric Palestinian organisation called Hamas.
The horrific footage and images we saw coming from Israel are just unbelievable: shooting at people at a party, burning down houses and then shooting the families while they are trying to escape, taking children as hostages into Gaza, taking an 85-year-old holocaust survivor on a wheelchair into Gaza, executions of civilians, beheadings of people.
This is a savage behaviour.
This is something that every civilised person is shocked by when he sees all those horrific things.
We were taken by surprise, there is no doubt about it. We are now at war.
This is not a war against the people of Gaza; this is a war against a terrorist organisation which indiscriminately was targeting civilians.
We will fight this terrorist organisation; we will beat it down.
Nobody will hit Israel and will get away with it.
So, we are now preparing our forces, we are preparing our plans, and we will go into this war, and we will win this war against this terrorist organisation.
We are not targeting the people of Gaza; we are targeting a terrorist organisation, and despite the difficulties and heavy prices we paid, we are a strong, resolute nation, and we will overcome.
In recent weeks and months, different efforts were made by Israel to try to improve the lives of Palestinians residing in Gaza.
So, several projects were discussed, including Gaza marine and gas for Gaza.
There was a whole discussion, and we actually gave more permissions for more Palestinians from Gaza to come into Israel and work in Israel.
So, while we were trying to improve the Palestinians’ lives, Hamas has zero care about its own people.
Massacre
It only cares about massacring Israelis–Children, pregnant women, old people.
It doesn’t care. It just wants to kill more and more Israelis.
This is more important for it than actually doing something in favour of its own people.
Every civilised person should look at this and be dismayed.
Iran has a very important link with Hamas.
They supply them with weapons, they supply them with know-how, and they provide training, ideology, and inspiration.
You can see the reaction of the leaders of Iran and how happy they are about this.
So, there is a clear linkage to Iran.
I don’t know whether Iran was directly involved in this specific attack, but it is something that Iran supports and thinks it’s a positive thing.
It reminds us again of this murderous regime in Iran and what its priorities are as well.
We don’t know how long it is going to take. This is war. This war was enforced upon us. We did not want this war. But we were attacked.
Therefore, we will make sure that this war ends in a different situation than it began.
We cannot go back to what was before October 7. This is the goal; this is the aim.
I cannot forecast the future.
We see who our friends are; we know who our friends are.
I am very much encouraged by this very deep and vast support that we are getting now in Cyprus.
At the moment, I cannot speculate what kind of geostrategic changes will happen.
But I think this is also an opportunity to see and be reminded who are your friends and who are not.
We do attach importance to our strategic relations with Cyprus.
We are thankful that we have the opportunity, if needed, to be assisted by Cyprus, and this will be considered in our planning ahead.
The Ambassador of Israel to Cyprus, Oren Anolik, was interviewed by the Cyprus News Agency
